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Catholic  Christianity 

AND 

ffloDEP^N  Unbelief. 


A  PLAIN  AND  BRIEF  STATEMENT 


OF 


The  Real  Doctrines  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 

AS    OPPOSED 

To  those  falsely  attributed  to  her,  by  Christians  who  reject  her  authority, 
and  by  Unbelievers  in  Revelation  ;  that  thus 

A.      CONTRAST 

May  be  easily  drawn  between  the  "Faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints," 

AND 

The  Conflicting  Theories,  and  Scientific  Guesses  of  the  present  Age ;  and 
serving  as  a 

REFUTATIOIV 

To  the  assaults  of  modern  Infidelity. 

BY  THE 

RIGHT  REV.  J.  D    RTCARDS,  D.D. 

Bishop  ofRetimo,  and  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the  Eastern 
Vicariate  of  the  Cape  Colony. 


SKCOND    KDITION 


'^^: 


New  York,  Cincinnati,  and  St.  Louis' 

BENZIGER     BROTHERS. 

Printers  to  the  Holy  Apostolic  See. 
X884. 


Copyright,  1884,  by  BENZIGER  BROTHERS. 


.Ifi^N  5TACK 


DEDIC^TIGN.v 


TO  THE  Clergy  and  Religious 

OF 

The  Vicariate  of  the  Eastern  Districts  of  the  Cape  Colony,  South  Africa, 

who  have  borne  patiently  with  my  many  short-comings  and  imperfections, 
and  have  faithfully  and  zealously  co-operated  with  me  in  every 
undertaking  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  god,  and  the  plant- 
ing and  fostering  of  catholic  christianity,  in  the  portion 
of  south  africa  committed  to  my  pastoral  charge, 

This   Book, 

with   every  feeling    of    esteem    and  attachment,   and  with  a  grateful 

remembrance   of   many   kindnesses   received, 

is  respectfully  inscribed, 


©HE    JIUWHOI^. 


[  .     949 


All  I  have  written  I  believe  to  be  trustworthy^  and  in 
accordance  with  the  constant  teaching  of  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church  ;  nevertheless  I  humbly  submit  everything  contained  in 
this  book  to  the  unerring  judgment  of  the  same  Holy  Church. 

*  J.  D.  RICARDS,  Ep.  &  Vic.  Ap., 

Grahamstown,  South  Africa,  June  23a?,  1884. 


PREFACE. 


This  work  was  suggested  to  me  by  a  man  of  more  than 
ordinary  powers  of  observation  and  intelKgence,  who  bad 
travelled  over  every  part  of  the  United  States,  and 
through  most  of  the  British  colonies.  His  was  not 
superficial  travelling ;  his  duties  led  him  to  stay  for  weeks, 
and  months,  and  even  years,  in  some  of  the  States,  and  in 
particular  districts ;  and  the  same  duties  gave  him  an  in- 
sight into  the  religious  wants  of  the  people  he  visited. 
He  told  me  that  a  book  which  would  treat,  in  a  popular 
way,  the  religious  theories  now  so  fashionable  outside  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  contrast  them  with  orthodox  teach- 
ing, would  be  welcome  and  useful  to  many.  I  distrusted 
exceedingly  my  powers  to  accomplish  a  task,  not  alto- 
gether foreign  to  my  experience;  but  on  consideration 
that  it  might  help  in  a  small  way  even  to  promote  the 
honor  and  glory  of  God,  I  accepted  it. 

It  will  be  manifest  to  any  one  who  reads  the  introduc- 
tion or  glances  over  the  headings  of  the  chapters,  that  I 
make  no  pretensions  whatever  to  scholarship :  the  life  of 
a  missionary  Bishop  is  almost  an  effectual  barrier  to  care- 
ful and  prolonged  study  and  to  the  means  of  gratifying 
Buch  tastes.  I  have,  however,  been  observant  of  the 
currents  of  religious  thought  outside  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  colony  where  I  have  spent  thirty-five  years  of  my 
life  as  priest  or  Bishop  ;  and  I  have  occasionally,  when  I 
believed  it  was  my  duty  to  check  their  turbulent  course, 


6  PREFACE. 

especially  whenever  they  seemed  to  assail  the  ground  of 
Catholic  teaching,  endeavored  to  do  so  to  the  best  of  my 
ability.  One  cannot  travel  much,  as  I  have  done,  over 
the  large  area  confided  to  my  spiritual  care  without  en- 
countering many  un-Catholic  notions ;  and  it  has  been  my 
constant  practice  to  watch  attentively  these  straws  of  re- 
ligious opinion,  and  with  the  help  of  such  books  as  I  could 
coUect,  to  examine  what  was  the  source  of  these  peculiar 
views. 

It  was  always  a  pleasure,  not  alone  in  the  interests  of 
orthodox  teaching,  but  for  the  sake  of  communicating 
the  results  of  my  reading  to  men  remarkable  for  that  out- 
spoken freedom  of  thought,  which  marks  young  coun- 
tries, to  "give  reasons  for  the  faith  that  is  in  me."  It 
was  often  highly  gratifying  to  be  able  thus  to  remove 
deep-seated  prejudices,  and  to  show  those  who,  by  their 
pleased  and  grateful  attention,  invited  such  explanation, 
that  Catholics  were  not  quite  as  bad  as  the  teachers  of 
error  represented  them  to  be.  The  frequent  remark, 
"  You  surprise  me,"  "  Is  it  so,  really  ?"  "  Can  what  you 
say  be  the  real  truth  ?"  "  How  different  is  what  you  say 
from  what  I  have  always  heard  !"  often  made  me  hopeful 
that  those  with  whom  I  conversed  might  push  their  in- 
quiries farther. 

This  habit  of  life  will  explain  much  that  might  other- 
wise be  almost  unintelligible  to  readers  of  the  book  in 
Catholic  countries.  The  bold  daring  of  the  objections 
and  the  answers,  so  far  removed  from  anything  like 
scholastic  precision,  would  seem  to  indicate  a  state  of 
thought  and  feeling  almost  unknown  to  those  of  the 
"  Household  of  the  Faith."  This  must  be  my  apology 
for  much  that  is  not  f oimd  in  the  pages  of  ordinary  works 
of  a  controversial  character. 


PREFACE.  7 

jjideed,  this  book  can  scarcely  be  considered  a  polemi- 
cal work  at  all.  There  is  manifestly  a  plunge  in  medias 
res^  without  any  attempt  to  prepare  the  way  by  building 
up  a  solid  starting-point  of  sound  principles  and  elaborate 
arguments.  Possibly  this  absence  of  formality  may  cause 
the  book  to  be  more  generally  read  than  it  otherwise 
would  be.  I  can  assure  those  who  may  be  thus  attracted 
to  examine  its  contents,  that  their  reading  will  not  be  im- 
peded by  any  show  of  learning  or  stiff  reasoning  derived 
from  treatises  on  theology  and  metaphysics. 

My  object  has  been  throughout  to  state  the  difficulties  //* 
urged  by  unbelief  against  Catholic  Christianity  plainly  and 
even  forcibly — much  more  forcibly  than  they  have  been 
put  to  me  by  travelling  companions,  and  men  whom  I 
have  met,  disposed  to  discuss  religious  questions.  The 
answers  are  directed  chiefly  to  common-sense,  and  are 
supported  by  plain  matter-of-fact  demonstrations  carefully 
selected,  on  account  of  their  simplicity,  from  hosts  of 
others  more  suited  to  the  schools. 

The  whole  plan  of  the  work  is  conceived  on  the  same 
principles.  I  first  endeavor  to  show  what  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity is  as  a  whole,  regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  ^ 
a  believer ;  how  all  its  doctrines,  mysteries,  sacraments, 
worship^  and  practices  spring  from  a  right  understanding 
of  the  great  mystery — God  in  the  flesh,  which  forms  the 
basis  of  all  revealed  religion.  I  then  carefully  eliminate 
this  body  of  doctrine  from  the  misunderstandings  and 
misrepresentations  to  which  it  is  commonly  subjected, 
distinguish  it  from  the  doctrines  of  Christian  sects,  and 
explain  fully  these  differences  on  the  important  questions 
of  Justification,  Free-will,  Grace,  and  Predestination.  If 
at  times  this  leads  me  into  the  path  of  controversy,  I  have 
been  careful  to  turn  aside  from  the  weli-beaten  track  as 


8  PREFACE. 

soon  as  it  was  possible,  satisfying  myself  with  noting,  in 
characters  that  cannot  be  mistaken  by  ordinary  intelli- 
gence, the  essential  marks  of  true  Catholic  teaching. 

When  this  has  been  effected,  and  Catholic  Christianity 
stands  forth  in  its  dogmas  and  practices  as  I  revere  and 
love  it,  and  as  I  believe  it  is  revered  and  loved  by  the  two 
hundred  millions  of  my  fellow-Catholics  throughout  the 
world,  I  contrast  its  sublime  grandeur,  its  venerable 
antiquity,  and  its  unchanging  truth  with  the  fascinations 
of  unbelief. 

I  do  not  enter  minutely  into  the  analysis  of  these 
theories  that  are  the  fashion  of  the  hour.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  do  so.  They  are  self -conflicting,  like  their  teach- 
ers, "  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about  with  every  wind 
of  doctrine,"  and  ever  dashing  against  the  sound  prin- 
ciples of  revealed  religion,  as  established  and  bound 
together  by  the  labors  of  Christian  scholars  in  every  age, 
on  the  solid  foundation  laid  by  Christ  Himself. 

There  is  nothing  worthy  of  serious  study  in  any  of  these 
ephemeral  systems  that  amuse  the  fancies  of  a  frivolous 
and  unthinking  generation. 

"  We  live,"  said  the  late  Lord  Beaconsfield,  "  in  an  age 
when  young  men  prattle  about  protoplasm  and  when 
young  ladies,  in  golden  saloons,  unconsciously  talk  Athe- 
ism." 

"  Positive  polity,"  says  another  able  writer,  "  is  com- 
posed of  concrete  and  abstract,  positive  and  metaphysical 
elements  of  fact  and  fiction,  of  entity  and  non-entity."  It 
would  be  a  mere  loss  of  time  to  pick  and  choose  among 
these  glittering  toys,  sometimes  facts,  and  more  often 
fictions,  set  before  the  public  by  unbelieving  scientific 
writers,  and  out  of  these  elements  to  construct  something 
worth  battering  down  by  theological  argument. 


PREFACE.  9 

When  tlie  scientific  teachers  themselves  understand 
what  they  teach,  and  unite  in  giving  the  world  something 
like  a  system,  it  will  be  time  enough  for  the  upholders  of 
revealed  religion  to  refute  it. 

As  one  of  the  distinguished  lecturers  before  the  Chris- 
tian Evidence  Society  says  of  the  grand  theory  of  De- 
velopment :  "  Development  is  in  truth  as  amazing  and 
incomprehensible  a  mystery  as  creation.  It  seems  to  be 
but  another  word  for  creation.  Only  they  who  affect  to 
use  it  instead  of  the  word  creation  insist  upon  creation 
without  a  creator.  The  unintelligent  and  unconscious 
universe,  in  their  view,  is  continually  creating  itself — 
Professor  Huxley's  protoplasm  breaks  it  down.  All  scien- 
tific evidence  is  opposed  to  the  idea  that  protoplasm  was 
developed  out  of  inorganic  matter.  The  hypothesis  of 
spontaneous  life-generation  appears  to  be  exploded. 
Science  at  any  rate,  on  its  own  positive  principles,  has  no 
right  whatever  to  pretend  that  life  has  ever  been  de- 
veloped out  of  what  was  not  living." 

Just  so,  at  one  time  in  the  world's  history,  we  are  told 
by  the  leaders  of  progress,  everything  was  inorganic  and 
dead  ;  then  that  all  was  living. 

Whence  did  life  come  ?  It  could  not  be  developed. 
Was  it  then  created  ?  When  scientific  men  are  agreed  on 
this  one  point — ^the  origin  of  Hfe — then  no  doubt  there 
will  appear  able  supporters  of  revealed  religion  to  de- 
monstrate to  an  interested  public  that  the  source  of  life 
is  the  great,  omnipotent,  and  all-knowing  personal  God, 
"  by  Whom  aU  things  were  made,  and  without  Whom  was 
made  nothing  that  was  made." 

In  the  meantime,  and  imtil  progress  has  laid  before  the 
world  its  demonstration  of  the  origin  of  life.  Christians  of 
all  denominations  can  rest  securely  on  the  words  of  the 


10  PREFACE. 

inspired  writer,  "Thou  Thyself  O  Lord,  alone.  Thou 
hast  made  heaven,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens,  and  all  the 
hosts  thereof :  the  earth  and  all  the  things  that  are  in  it : 
the  seas,  and  all  that  are  therein ;  and  Thou  givest  life  to 
all  these  things,  and  the  host  of  heaven  adoreth  Thee" 
(2  Esdras  ix.  6). 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Dedication 3 

Pkeface 5 

Introduction 13 

CHAPTER 

I.  Catholic  Christianity  and  its  Contrasts 35 

n.  Catholic  Christianity  and  its  Mysteries 55 

III.  The   Incarnation,    the  Centre    and    Soul   of    Catholic 

Christianity 78 

rV.  Catholic  Christianity    Developed  in  the    Sacramental 

Principle 96 

V.  Catholic  Christianity  in  some  Practical  Aspects 113 

VI.  A  Glimpse  of  Catholic  Christianity  as  seen  by  Faith —  133 
Vn.  A  Further  View  of  Catholic  Christianity  through  its 

Forms  of  Worship 150 

VIII.  Catholic  Christianity  Misunderstood  by  Free  thinkers. .  171 
IX.  Catholic   Christianity   in  Relation  to  Education    and 

Marriage 191 

X.  Catholic  Christianity  as  Opposed  to  Emotional  Christi- 
anity  209 

XL.  Catholic  Christianity,  Justification,  and  Sanctity 238 

XII.  Catholic  Christianity  untinged  by  the  Gloom  of  Pre- 
destination  246 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAOB 

XIII.  Catholic  Christianity  and  Divine  Grace 363 

XIV.  Catholic  Christianity  and  Material  Prosperity 277 

XV.  Catholic  Christianity  and  Exclusive  Salvation 297 

XVI.  Catholic  Christianity  and  the  Alleged  Errors  of  the 

Sacred  Scriptures 316 

XVn.  Catholic  Christianity  and  some  Popular  "  isms" 337 

XVIII.  Catholic  Christianity  and  Realism 354 

XIX.  Catholic  Christianity  and  Spiritism 368 

XX.  Conclusion 384 


INTRODUCTION, 


If  one  could  calmlj  contemplate  the  great  stream  of 
human  life  as  it  rolls  on  toward  the  ocean  of  eternity, 
and  with  a  keen  power  of  perception,  such  as  is  rarely 
given  to  finite  reason,  grasp  the  aims  and  projects  of  the 
masses  as  they  are  swept  onward  in  their  rapid  course,  he 
would  soon  be  convinced  that  few  among  the  many  mil- 
lions concern  themselves  about  "  the  wide,  the  unbounded 
prospect"  that  lies  before  them  after  death.  It  is  not 
simply  that  "  shadows,  clouds,  and  darkness  rest  upon  it," 
but  that  they  do  not  care  or  concern  themselves  to  look 
forward,  and  try  to  penetrate  the  dark  future.  Life  with 
its  busy  cares  absorbs  the  whole  attention  of  the  many, 
and  if  Death  and  its  immortal  consequences  roughly  ob- 
trude upon  their  day-dreams,  the  grim  phantom  is  at 
once  relegated  to  the  land  of  myths  and  shadows. 

The  blighting  curse  of  the  present  age  is  the  total 
absence  of  serious  thought  about  the  great  hereafter. 
Well  may  the  words  of  the  prophet  be  applied  to  the 
myriads  who  are  so  fascinated  with  the  joys  and  pursuits 
of  the  present  short-lived  time  as  to  take  no  precautions 
whatever  against  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  all  that  should  be 
most  dear  to  beings  who  "shall  never  die:" — "With 
desolation  is  all  the  land  made  desolate  ;  because  there  is 
none,  that  considereth  in  the  heart"  (Jeremias  xii.  11). 
Men  will  talk  occasionally  about  these  all-important  suly 
jects,  but  they  will  not  think.     They  will  even  jest  ani 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

trifle  about  them,  if  they  can  in  no  other  way  shake  off 
the  gloomy  vision ;  and  as  "  the  fool  hath  said " — not 
thought — "  in  his  heart,  there  is  no  God "  (Psalm  xiii. 
1),  so  will  they  who  "  love  the  world  and  the  things  that 
are  in  the  world "  say  and  affect  to  believe  that  there  is 
no  futare  to  cause  them  apprehension. 

I  believe  that  no  one  of  ordinary  intelligence  and 
observation  will  deny  that  unbelief,  the  offspring  of 
frivolity  and  thoughtlessness,  is  rapidly  spreading  over 
the  whole  civilized  world.  It  is  not  philosophical  and 
reasoning  Infidelity  that  is  causing  whole  nations,  in  this 
nineteenth  century,  to  turn  away  from  God  and  His  Christ 
and  the  hopes  of  Faith,  but  thoughtless  and  flippant  ridi- 
cule of  the  joys  and  terrors  set  before  us  by  revelation.  It 
is  utter  carelessness  and  indifference  about  sacred  things 
that  is  doing  this  wide-spread  mischief. 

Yoltaire,  and  the  wretched  crew  who  sided  with  him 
in  the  war  against  Christianity,  perverted  their  splendid 
abilities  in  order  to  fling  away  the  fetters  and  restraints 
of  conscience  and  the  Divine  law.  They  labored  hard, 
they  spared  themselves  no  toil,  they  shrunk  from  no  sac- 
rifice of  honor  or  truth,  to  carry  out  their  diabolical  pur- 
pose, and  "  ecraser  Vinfdmer 

But  the  laughing,  jeering,  mocking  infidels  of  our  tim© 
have  found  a  shorter  way  than  this  to  secure  what  are 
called  "  the  glorious  privileges  of  Free-thought."  They 
simply  caricature  revealed  religion,  picture  to  themselves 
an  extravagantly  ludicrous  creation  of  their  irreverent 
and  unrestrained  imagination,  and,  instead  of  the  venera- 
ble and  beautiful  "  mother  of  all  the  living"  that  ruled 
the  hearts  and  guided  the  steps  of  her  wayward  children 
with  infinite  patience  and  love,  set  up  a  hateful  monster, 
hideous  in  its  deformity,  and  destitute  of  any  quality 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

deserving  of  reverence  and  adffection.  They  leave  all  tlie 
thinking  and  reasoning  to  a  few  deluded  visionaries  of 
science,  who,  in  the  pride  of  their  grand  discoveries  and 
inventions,  have  been  led  to  worship  themselves,  and  for- 
get the  God  who  made  them ;  and,  borrowing  from  these 
prophets  and  guides  some  charming  but  extravagant 
theories,  they  amuse  their  idle  hours  with  fancy  sketches 
of  Eeligion,  that  convulse  themselves  with  merriment, 
and  which,  while  they  amuse  the  thoughtless  multitude, 
effectually  rob  them  of  every  element  of  reverent  and 
trusting  faith. 

What  do  these  "  blind  leaders  of  the  bhnd "  care  for 
patient  reasoning  and  sound  argument  ?  They  will  not 
give  themselves  the  trouble  to  entertain  a  serious  thought 
on  such  a  subject.  If  they  are  checked  by  the  thought- 
ful and  the  wise,  and  called  upon  to  explain  the  principles 
that  are  supposed  to  sustain  their  crude  and  whimsical 
notions  of  the  Deity  and  the  world  to  come,  they  at  once 
fall  back  on  the  great  discovery  of  the  age — Agnosticism. 
"  God,"  they  say,  "  is  the  unknown  and  unknowable." 

This  great  principle  of  Positivism  and  modem  Free- 
thought  being  once  supposed,  there  is  no  going  beyond 
this  stronghold.  I^ay,  admit  for  a  moment  this  crowning 
bulwark  of  Iniidelity,  and  the  very  raw  recruits  of  the 
movement  will  dash  forth  in  brilliant  charges  on  the  lines 
of  Christian  argument.  "  Who  can  tell  us  anything  of 
the  unknowable — who  hath  seen  the  invisible?  Who 
can  say  anything  with  certainty  of  the  dark  future  ?  Who 
will  venture  to  say  that  we  have  immortal  souls,  or  specu- 
late on  the  blank  form  of  eternity  of  which  we  can  know 
absolutely  nothing  ?" 

Our  great  leaders  in  scientific  research  have  settled  it 
to  their  own  satisfaction,  that  nothing  can  be  establishe(? 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

as  a  fact  save  through  the  reason  instructed  by  bodily 
sense.  "  This  is  an  axiom,  and  therefore  no  one  can  argue 
about  Heaven,  or  Hell,  or  the  Immortality  of  the  soul. 
These  things  possibly  may  be ;  but  they  are  beyond  the 
ken  of  beings  who  have  their  eyes  and  ears  and  hands 
and  smell  and  taste  to  guide  them  to  rational  conclusions. 
Everything  beyond  plain  and  satisfactory  results  like 
these  is  irrational  and  absurd.  And  why,  therefore, 
should  we  concern  ourselves  about  proofs  in  revelation, 
and  prophecies  and  mysteries  and  miracles,  when  it  is 
manifestly  beyond  our  powers  of  thought  to  convince 
others,  or  be  convinced  ourselves,  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  a  personal  God  ?" 

Sophistry  like  this  will  of  course  be  readily  admitted 
by  the  ignorant  or  unthinking  crowd,  who  care  only  to 
drive  away  from  the  conscience  whatever  can  put  a 
restraint  on  their  sensual  appetites.  They  have  neither 
the  time  nor  the  disposition  to  confuse  their  minds  with 
the  "musty  old  questions  of  the  ages  of  darkness  and 
superstition."  Carpe  diem:  "A  bird  in  the  hand  is 
worth  two  in  the  bush."  "  Let  us  eat,  drink,  and  be 
merry,  as  we  float  joyously  and  swiftly  down  the  stream 
of  life.  And  if  to-morrow  we  die,  why  then  it  will  be 
time  enough  to  think  of  the  future — ^if  indeed  there  is  a 
future." 

This,  without  exaggeration,  is,  I  beheve,  the  sum  and 
substance  of  the  laughing,  gay,  and  rolhcking  sort  of  In- 
fidelity, which  is  fast  dissipating  from  the  minds  of  the 
giddy  throng  even  their  nebulous  and  shadowy  traditions 
of  the  old  Faith,  that  has  sustained  the  world  for  eighteen 
hundred  years. 

It  can  easily  be  seen  from  this  that  the  Infidelity  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  much  more  dan 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

gerous  to  society  tlian  that  of  any  former  age.  The  Yol- 
taireans  were  wits  and  scholars.  They  read  a  great  deal, 
they  were  familiar  with  every  passage  in  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  which  their  leader  had  applied  all  his  learning 
to  twist  and  transform  into  a  sense  that  captivated  the 
polished  taste  of  his  admiring  votaries.  They  had  learned 
from  him  to  set  a  witty  or  epigrammatic  form  of  expres- 
sion above  all  other  excellences  in  writing  or  in  speech ; 
and  to  esteem  the  play  of  fancy  most  of  all  whenever  it 
ridiculed  what  was  sacred  and  venerable  in  the  thoughts 
and  convictions  of  believers.  But  the  double-entendres, 
and  hon-mots,  and  the  flashing  epigram  were  above  the 
perceptions  of  the  unread  and  uneducated,  and  were  the 
exclusive  property  of  a  privileged  class.  '' Panem  et 
drcensesj''  cheap  food  and  unrestrained  enjoyment,  no 
labor,  no  taxes — these  were  the  fruits  of  the  new  philoso- 
phy that  charmed  the  masses.  They  heeded  not  the  fine 
sayings  and  the  learned  doctrines  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
and  the  Dictionary  of  Philosophy,  so  long  as  the  sover- 
eign will  of  the  people  triumphed,  and  an  age  of  whole- 
sale levelling  set  in.  The  gay  crowds  of  the  cities  of 
France  were  delirious  with  the  new  spirit  of  progress. 
They  shouted  "J.  has  les  Aristocrates,^^  "J.  has  les 
Pret/res,^^  with  the  same  frenzy  as  the  high-sounding  names 
"  lAherte^  EgalitS,  FraterniU^''  and  danced  like  fiends 
round  the  tree  of  liberty.  While  they  had  their  own 
way,  unrestrained  by  law  and  order  and  the  dictates  of 
conscience  and  the  warnings  of  religion,  it  mattered  lit- 
tle to  them  how  their  leaders  thought  out  the  poHtical 
problems  of  the  hour,  or  what  idols  were  set  up  for  their 
adoration.  They  were  as  brutal  as  the  crowd  at  the  foot 
of  Sinai ;  and,  had  a  golden  calf  been  placed  on  the  altar 
instead  of  a  shameless  woman,  it  would  have  been  all  the 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

same,  provided  it  symbolized  tlie  reign  of  lawlessness 
and  sensuality. 

Things  are  quite  different  now.  The  hrutum  fulmen 
— the  power  of  the  law  supported  by  bayonets — keeps  the 
mob  in  order.  No  high-wrought  sentimentalism  for  fel- 
low-citizens will  cause  men  who  have  money  in  the  funds 
to  fraternize  with  poverty-stricken  wretches  who  presume 
to  disturb  the  public  order.  Simon  Tappertits  may  thun- 
der in  dark  cellars  against  government,  and  the  rights  of 
property;  trades-unions  may  now  and  then  show  their 
teeth  in  public ;  but  if  they  growl  or  even  bark,  they 
dare  not  bite.  For  this  reason,  the  Infidelity  that  is  cor- 
rupting the  masses  of  the  chief  towns  of  Europe,  causes 
no  alarm ;  and  therefore  it  has  advanced  unchecked,  until 
now  it  has  reached  a  point  that  may  well  excite  the  ap- 
prehensions of  all  governments. 

It  is  more  than  forty  years  ago  that  I  read  of  one  of 
the  Bradlaugh  class,  who,  in  his  club-room  in  London, 
defied  God  to  strike  him  dead,  if  the  horrid  blasphemies 
he  uttered  were  untrue,  and  pointing  to  the  clock,  gave 
his  Divine  Maker  a  full  ^nq  minutes  to  carry  out  the  im- 
precation. It  is  stated,  in  the  respectable  publication  in 
which  I  read  the  account  of  the  revolting  occurrence,  that 
a  terror  seemed  to  diffuse  itself  over  the  whole  assembly 
as  they  watched  the  hands  slowly  move  over  the  interval, 
and  looked  at  the  sturdy  ruflSan  who  had  thus  dared  to 
outrage  and  trample  out  the  conscience  of  his  fellow-men 
stand  with  folded  arms  awaiting  the  result.  I  venture 
to  state  that  at  the  present  day,  in  thousands  of  working- 
men's  associations  in  Great  Britain,  where  men  speak 
freely  of  religion,  a  sensational  scene  like  this,  if  at- 
tempted, would  only  provoke  a  laugh;  and  that  the 
speaker  who  would  boldly  deny  the  existence  of  God 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

would  be  told  to  pass  on  to  some  other  point  of  greater 
interest  and  less  admitted  and  understood. 

Those  who  have  read  in  Dickens'  "  Bamaby  Kudge" 
the  account  of  the  Gordon  riots  (when  some  fanatics 
who  gloried  in  the  heritage  of  Free-thought,  urged  the 
mob  to  crush  the  Roman  Catholics  of  London  for  daring 
to  petition  for  something  like  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion),  may  think  that  nothing  could  be  worse  than 
the  condition  of  the  metropolis  during  these  terrible  days 
of  riot  and  confusion.  But  I  feel  assured,  from  what  I 
have  read  of  the  secret  societies  in  that  great  city,  and 
seen  of  the  illustrated  printed  matter  circulated  amongst 
them,  that  the  Gordon  riots  would  afford  the  faintest 
idea  of  the  scenes  of  violence  and  confusion  that  would 
ensue  if  for  any  cause  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  were 
paralyzed  or  suspended.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  realize 
to  one's  self  that  in  these  enlightened  days,  when  we  are 
supposed  to  bask  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  much-lauded 
Free-thought  and  independence  of  Divine  authority  in 
religion,  there  is  scarcely  such  a  thing  as  a  conscience  in 
the  souls  of  the  most  dreaded  and  dangerous  classes ;  that 
no  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and  fear  of  God  and  His 
chastisements,  would  ojffer  the  least  restraint  to  the  per- 
petration of  deeds,  the  bare  thought  of  which  makes  one 
sick  with  terror  ;  and  that  it  is  only  fear  of  "  the  powers 
that  be" — cringing,  whipt-dog  fear — that  keeps  the  mobs 
of  our  great  cities  of  Europe  in  anything  like  order. 

Education  without  rehgion  is  to  a  great  extent  the 
cause  of  this  state  of  things ;  but  the  main  cause  of  all  is 
the  absence  of  Divine  Faith,  which  is  the  necessary  con- 
sequence of  rebellion  against  legitimate  authority.  The 
Catholic  Church,  through  her  divinely  instituted  teaching 
body,  has  never  ceased  to  warn  the  rulers  of  this  world 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

that  tlie  seeds  of  that  wild  teaching,  scattered  at  the  will 
of  each  individual,  will  infallibly  produce  its  fatal  results 
— "  They  shall  sow  wind,  and  reap  a  whirlwind  "  (Osee 
mi.  T). 

Hitherto  I  have  confined  the  contrast  between  the  Infi- 
delity of  the  present  day  and  that  of  the  period  of  the 
great  Revolution  of  the  eighteenth  century  to  the  effects 
on  the  working-classes,  or  the  uneducated  portion  of  the 
community.  In  the  higher  classes,  also,  there  is  much  to 
be  noted  that  makes  the  Infidelity  of  the  present  age  more 
dangerous  to  society  than  that  of  the  Yoltairean  period. 
The  educated  Yoltaireans  prided  themselves  on  an  accu- 
rate knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  the  facts  of  his- 
tory, and  the  discoveries  of  the  learned,  that  rendered 
tbem,  in  their  opinion,  immeasurably  superior  in  learning 
to  the  scholars  in  the  service  of  the  Church.  This  was 
in  truth  only  a  conceit ;  for  the  clergy  of  France  at  the 
time  had  every  advantage  which  could  be  afforded  by 
colleges  and  universities,  and  the  long  training  for  the 
ministry,  and  the  careful  study  of  philosophy,  and  of 
"  the  science  of  sciences" — theology.  This  knowledge 
was  practically  tested  by  repeated  examinations,  and  after 
ordination,  by  annual  conferences  which  insured  compe- 
tent knowledge  in  all  the  clergy.  The  Yoltairean,  there- 
fore, to  shine  in  the  salons  and  enjoy  triumph  over  his 
clerical  adversary,  should  necessarily  be  well-informed, 
and  quick  and  sharp  in  argument,  on  all  topics  connected 
with  religion. 

The  Lord  Dundrearies  of  our  time  and  their  Lady- 
ships, who  have  made  up  their  minds  to  enjoy  life  and 
let  the  future  take  care  of  itself,  abhor  everything  like 
religious  controversy.  Even  amongst  the  rich  and  well- 
to-do  commoners  such  subjects  are  tabooed ;  for  it  is  well 


INTEODUCTION.  21 

understood  that  to  raise  questions  on  religion  m  polite 
and  polished  circles  is  directly  opposed  to  good  taste  and 
the  convenances  of  society.  Lady  So-and-so  may,  through 
the  irresistible  instincts  of  a  benevolent  disposition,  take 
an  interest  in  certain  charitable  institutions ;  or  my  Lord 
love  to  preside  at  meetings  for  the  benefit  of  the  be- 
nighted heathens  of  Borrioboola-Gha,  or  Alderman  Bull 
and  his  amiable  lady  delight  in  heading  a  large  subscrip- 
tion-list in  the  Times ;  but  you  will  scarcely  find  one  of 
these  tranquil  and  self-satisfied  souls  who  will  allow  the 
calm  surface  of  their  lives  to  be  rippled  by  the  breath  of 
an  earnest  discussion  about  truths  that  concern  the  world 
to  come. 

There  is  little  to  move  any  of  this  easy-going  class  to 
self-sacrifice  or  disinterested  labor  for  the  honor  and 
glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  their  neighbor,  where  the 
work  does  not  fall  in  with  their  notions  of  what  is  fash- 
ionable and  becoming.  If  the  preacher  of  the  church, 
where  they  are  wont  to  attend,  commends  himself  to 
them  and  their  "set"  by  the  suavity  of  his  voice  and 
manner  and  the  sesthetical  arrangement  of  his  namby- 
pamby  essays  on  morality  in  general,  and  if  the  choir 
sing  prettily,  they  condescend  to  patronize  Divine  wor- 
ship Sunday  after  Sunday  unless  they  feel  indisposed. 
But  woe  betide  the  preacher  if  he  should  dare  to  ruffle 
their  tender  sensibilities  by  allusion  to  the  fact  that  "the 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 
only  bear  it  away"  (Matt.  xi.  12),  or  the  necessity  of  tak- 
ing up  the  cross  daily,  or  the  judgment,  and  the  wrath 
to  come.  He  may  soon  address  his  appeals  to  empty 
benches.  These  good  people  are  too  fond  of  their  own 
comfort  to  expose  themselves  to  the  danger  of  having 
their  equanimity  disturbed,  and  they  prefer  some  charm- 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

ing  novel,  in  their  own  quiet  snuggery,  to  tlie  luxurious 
ease  of  the  family  pew. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  there  are  in  fashionable 
quarters  of  London  whole  streets  of  mansions  the  Sab- 
bath rest  of  which  is  never  broken  by  the  sounds  of  car- 
riages conveying  the  wealthy  proprietors  to  and  from 
the  parochial  church  on  Sundays. 

I  have  been  told  by  an  old  resident  of  the  great  city 
that  the  rule  of  life  in  these  paradisaical  retreats,  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  is,  within  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  to 
have  a  social  gathering  of  kindred  spirits  on  Saturday 
nights,  generally  prolonged  to  the  small  hours  with  music 
and  dancing,  and  a  sumptuous  supper,  to  give  the  greater 
part  of  Sunday  to  indolent  repose,  and  to  take  a  drive  in 
the  afternoon  to  give  zest  to  the  late  evening  meal. 
When  this  becomes  fashionable  and  the  correct  thing,  as 
it  seems  to  be  already,  how  poor  are  the  chances  of  even 
a  gleam  of  spiritual  life  !  And  when  superadded  to  this 
the  reading  of  works  of  a  transcendental  character,  in 
which  a  loftier  idea  of  the  aims  and  objects  of  life  is  pre- 
tended than  vulgar  Christianity  or  the  Bible  suggests,  be- 
comes the  rage,  and  these  favored  children  of  fortune, 
reclining  on  luxurious  couches,  dream  away  their  existence 

"till  human  time 
Shall  fold  its  eyelids,  and  the  human  sky- 
Be  gathered  like  a  scroll  within  the  tomb, 
Unread  forever," 

what  is  to  become  of  sturdy,  healthy  Faith,  and  walking 
in  the  footsteps  of  "  the  Man  of  sorrows"  ?  WeU  might 
our  Divine  Lord,  in  His  luminous  vision  of  these  lotus- 
eaters  of  the  world  of  fashion  in  these  latter  times,  ex- 
claim, "When  the  Son  of  Man  cometh,  shall  He  find, 
think  you,  faith  on  earth  ?"  (Luke  xviii.  8.) 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

It  will  be  readily  inferred  from  this  tendency  of  the 
age  to  indifference  about  religion — ^life  without  God, 
education  without  God,  the  poor  deprived  of  the  conso- 
lations of  Faith,  and  chafing  under  the  sense  of  cruel 
wrong,  and  longing  ardently  for  the  day  when  capital 
and  its  possessors  shall  be  dragged  down  from  their 
earthly  paradise,  and  compelled  to  share  their  coveted 
possessions  ;  the  rich  wrapped  up  in  the  selfish  enjoy- 
ment and  repose  that  comes  of  "beauteous  order"  and  the 
"gladness  of  the  world,"  that  the  spread  of  irreligion  and 
the  forgetfulness  of  God  and  the  future  must  be  far 
wider  than  is  generally  imagined.  Yes,  and  it  will  con- 
tinue to  diffuse  itself  with  ever-increasing  rapidity  where 
it  does  not  encounter  the  Rock  founded  by  an  Almighty 
hand,  and  that  immovable  barrier  against  which  He  has 
assured  us  even  the  powers  of  hell  shall  never  prevail. 

If  that  Eock  could  be  upheaved,  if  that  barrier  could 
be  swept  away,  if  the  "  everlasting  Church"  could  crumble 
into  ruins,  what  then  could  stem  the  tide  of  evil  that  is 
rising  every  day  higher  and  higher,  till  it  fills  with  alarm 
every  man  of  mind  that  watches  its  progress  ? 

Will  Free-thought,  and  the  right  of  all  men  to  deal  as 
they  think  fit  with  the  Divine  message,  stem  the  surging 
torrent  %  Why,  this  is  itself  the  true  source  and  origin  of 
the  growing  impiety.  If  this  boasted  prerogative  of  hu- 
man pride  were  not  sustained  by  the  bond  of  formularies 
and  creeds,  it  would  long  ago  have  been  overwhelmed  by 
the  forces  it  has  called  into  existence. 

Will  the  millions  and  millions  of  Bibles  that  are  teem- 
ing from  the  press  close  the  breaches  which  Pantheism 
and  Socialism,  and  the  other  "isms"  Free-thought  has 
engendered,  are  making  in  its  feeble  and  worthless  bar- 
rier ?     Why,  it  is  this  senseless  scattering  of  the  Word  of 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

God  amongst  the  crowds,  who  can  hardly  read,  much 
less  understand  its  pages,  that  has  robbed  the  Holy  Book 
of  that  strength  and  power  with  which  it  was  endowed 
while  it  was  carefully  guarded  by  the  Church  from  the 
touch  of  profanity,  and  made  it  as  useless  as  the  dust 
trodden  down  on  the  highways,  to  oppose  the  floods  of 
Infidelity. 

Will  emotional  piety,  however  worked  up  by  stirring 
appeals  to  sentiment,  dare  to  sustain  itself  in  the  way  of 
the  accumulated  waters  of  unbelief,  that  now  assert 
themselves  openly  and  defiantly,  and  can  already  be 
heard  by  those  "who  have  ears  to  hear,"  threatening 
the  foundations  of  social  order?  As  well  might  we 
hope  to  dam  the  furious  course  of  a  swollen  river  with 
a  bundle  of  weak  and  perishable  reeds. 

The  only  salvation  of  the  world  against  this  ever-in- 
creasing danger  is,  I  repeat,  the  Eock  established  more 
than  eighteen  centuries  ago,  by  our  Divine  Redeemer. 
We  have  His  solemn  promise  that  this  Eock  shall  never  fail. 
It  has  stood  the  test  of  perils  that  seemed  overwhelming 
from  within  and  without.  It  defied,  for  three  hundred 
years,  the  persecution  of  the  greatest  power  the  world 
ever  saw.  It  has  crushed  by  its  ponderous  mass  the 
almost  immovable  heresies  that  endeavored  to  sap  its 
deep  foundations ;  and  though  it  stands  alone  in  these 
latter  times,  and  apart  from  all  human  aid  to  protect  it, 
it  seems  to  smile,  with  the  bright  look  of  unfading 
youth,  on  every  effort  of  the  powers  of  earth  and  hell 
to  upheave  it.  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but 
My  word,"  says  the  Son  of  God — the  promise  to  sustain 
it,  "  shall  never  pass  away." 

It  may  seem  to  some  that  I  am  a  pessimist,  and  that  I 
exaggerate  the  dangers  to  be  apprehended  from  Infidelity. 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

I  mean,  therefore,  in  this  work  fiil]y  to  discuss  the  ques- 
tion, to  lay  open,  with  an  unsparing  hand,  the  cancerous 
growth  that  is  gnawing  away  almost  imperceptibly  the 
vitals  of  our  Christian  civilization ;  to  tear  off  the  artifi- 
cial flowers  and  the  frippery  tinsel  of  fine  phrases  and 
dazzling  figures  of  speech  and  polished  verses,  that  cover, 
like  the  whited  sepulchres  described  by  our  Divine  Lord 
(Matthew  xxiii.  27),  the  foul  corruption  that  is  poisoning 
the  heart's  blood  of  nations  ;  to  expose  the  hollowness  of 
those  fine-sounding  names — "  the  supremacy  of  reason," 
"glorious  liberty  of  free-thought,"  "universal  brother- 
hood," which  for  the  last  few  hundred  years  have  lured 
so  many  brave  and  honest  and  confiding  hearts  to  de- 
struction. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  been  assailed  with  the  most 
foul  abuse,  from  the  very  beginning  of  her  warfare  with 
these  hateful  delusions.  Luther  was  not  particularly 
choice  in  the  language  in  which  he  described  the  "  debas- 
ing superstitions"  and  "the  abominations  of  those  who 
bowed  the  knee  to  the  scarlet  woman  of  the  Apocalypse ;" 
and  those  who  praise  his  contempt  and  low  vituperation 
of  the  everlasting  spouse  of  God  have,  even  up  to  the 
present  hour,  not  been  behindhand  with  their  apostle 
in  heaping  up  execration  and  abuse  on  the  Church 
founded  by  Jesus  Christ.  It  will  not  be  difficult  to  show 
that  all  these  ugly  names  were  as  senseless  as  the  cries  of 
"  wooden  shoes  and  brass  money,"  so  dear  to  the  frenzied 
mob  in  the  excitement  of  the  Gordon  riots. 

But  do  I  hope  to  convince  those  who  shout,  with  all 
the  fierce  zeal  of  Orangeism,  "  jSTo  Popery"  that  this  zeal 
is  misplaced  ?  No  ;  but  I  believe  that  those  who  are  not 
maddened  with  the  spirit  of  party,  however  bitterly  they 
may,   from   long-nursed  prejudices,   hate    the   Catholic 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

Church,  will,  if  thej  venture  to  read  this  book,  reserve 
some  of  their  honest  indignation  and  abhorrence  for  that 
Infidelity  which  is  striving  bj  every  means  to  annihilate 
Christianity.  They  may  even  learn  to  understand  that 
the  old  Church  is  now,  as  she  was  in  the  beginning,  the 
uncompromising  foe  of  all  who  say  anathema  to  Jesus 
Christ,  and  so  may  be  disposed  to  allow  her  in  her  own 
way  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord,  whom  they  profess 
to  love  above  all  things. 

When  I  read  over  in  the  newspapers,  the  heads  and 
points  of  the  sermons  delivered  by  Protestant  ministers 
in  South  Africa,  on  the  occasion  of  the  late  centenary  of 
Luther,  the  savage  abuse  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church 
and  the  gushing  laudations  of  Free-thought,  I  could 
easily  account  for  the  strong  feelings  of  the  unthinking 
and  uneducated  classes  against  the  Church. 

These  accept,  without  doubt  or  question,  what  they 
hear  from  their  teachers.  While  they  fancy  they  are 
thinking  for  themselves,  and  wondering  how  "  Papists" 
can  be  so  deluded  as  to  hear  and  obey  the  Church,  they 
fail  to  see  that  they  are  themselves  led  and  driven,  like  a 
herd  of  animals  who  "  have  no  understanding,"  by  falli- 
ble men,  the  slaves  of  bitter  prejudices.  If  these  blind 
teachers  would  honestly  answer  the  question,  "Are  you 
sure,  beyond  doubt,  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is 
the  enemy  of  Christ  and  His  pure  doctrine  ?"  they  should 
be  bound  in  truth  and  conscience  to  say,  "  We  are  not. 
We  may  be  wrong,  and,  for  all  we  know  with  certainty, 
the  old  Church  may  be  as  right  now  as  she  was  when  she 
received  the  commission  from  our  Divine  Lord  to  teach 
all  nations,  and  treasured  the  promise  of  the  perpetual 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  her  discharge  of  this 
duty." 


IKTRODUCTION.  27 

When  men  never  think  of  these  things,  never  inquire 
into  the  true  state  of  the  case  as  between  legitimate  and 
infallible  teaching  and  that  which  is  assumed  and  irre- 
sponsible and  doubtful,  but  are  swayed  by  the  mere  feel- 
ing or  passion  of  the  hour,  it  would  be  vain  to  appeal  to 
their  reason  and  judgment.  "  They  know  not  what  they 
do."  They  are  like  the  excited  crowd  who,  at  the  dicta- 
tion of  the  Pharisees,  yelled  aloud  for  the  blood  of  Christ. 
He  prayed  for  them  because  of  their  ignorance.  So  does 
the  Catholic  Church  pray  for  those  who  ignorantly  per- 
secute her.  Our  Divine  Lord  said  to  His  Apostles,  that 
a  day  would  come  when  men  would  honestly  believe  that 
they  were  doing  God  service  by  persecuting  them  to 
death.  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  who  know  nothing  of 
the  Catholic  Church  but  what  they  have  heard  from 
fanatical  teachers,  are  in  the  same  position.  When  I 
hear  such  as  these  cry  out  "  Away  with  the  Church !"  and 
"  Down  with  Popery !"  I  cannot  help  liking  their  expres- 
sion of  strong  and  earnest  feeling.  As  Dr.  Johnson 
expresses  it,  "  I  Hke  strong  haters" — ^that  is  to  say,  men 
who  earnestly  hate  what  in  their  blind  prejudice  they 
believe  to  be  vile  and  contemptible.  This  is  a  thousand 
times  preferable  to  that  smile  "  from  the  teeth  outward," 
which  I  sometimes  notice  on  the  face  of  reverend  teach- 
ers who,  while  they  rave  against  the  CathoHc  Church 
from  the  pulpit  and  in  meeting,  profess  to  be  animated 
with  the  kindest  feelings  toward  her  "misguided 
children." 

There  is  no  hope  in  my  mind  that  this  book  will  pro- 
duce any  good  effect  on  such  as  these.  They  ought 
from  their  reading  to  know  better ;  they  should  be  able 
to  combat  their  fierce  prejudices  so  far  as  to  acknowledge 
that  the  old  Church,  which  is  attracting  to  itself  some  of 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

the  most  learned  and  holy  of  other  communions,  cannot 
be  the  mass  of  deformity  they  love  to  represent  it.  It  is 
much  to  be  feared  that,  with  all  their  rigorous  denuncia- 
tions of  Rome,  they  are  sinning  against  the  light ;  and 
that  therefore  they  are  inexcusable,  and  not  likely  to 
profit  by  a  word  in  season.  I  hope  better  things  from 
their  disciples,  for  I  cannot  help  thinking  that,  if  honest 
men  who  really  mean  to  think  for  themselves  and  to  be 
fair  and  just  in  their  estimate  of  their  fellow-men,  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  real  facts  of  the  case  between  legitimate 
authority  and  unprincipled  rebellion,  they  will  pause  in 
their  judgment,  and  learn  to  look  with  some  respect  upon 
the  old  Church,  and  be  disposed  to  profit  by  her  solemn 
and  repeated  warnings  against  the  dangers  of  Infidelity. 
I  must  confess  that  this  thought,  and  the  hope  it 
enkindled,  was  not  the  least  among  the  many  induce- 
ments that  urged  me  to  write  this  book. 

If  those  who  imagine  that  I  exaggerate  the  dangers  of 
Infidelity  will  obtain  information  concerning  the  progress 
of  Free-thought,  and  its  consequences  in  the  United 
States,  they  will  be  convinced  that  the  evils  to  which  I 
mean  to  call  attention  in  these  pages  can  scarcely  be 
exaggerated. 

The  language  of  IngersoU  in  his  public  lectures,  of  Dr. 
Adler  in  his  sermons,  and  of  the  Rev.  O.  B.  Frothingham 
in  his  lectures  and  essays,  is,  to  a  believer  in  revela- 
tion, of  the  most  daringly  blasphemous  character  that  can 
be  imagined.  These  upholders  of  Free-thought,  especi- 
ally the  first  mentioned,  assail  the  Bible  and  the  God  of 
the  Bible  with  an  energy  that  seems  almost  demoniacal. 
The  old  objections,  some  of  them  as  old  as  the  time  of 
Julian,  and  Celsus,  and  Porphyry,  are  dressed  up  in  the 
most  popular    and  taking  form.     Drollery,   caricature. 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

anything  that  will  make  the  large  audiences  laugh  at 
what  Christians  hold  most  sacred,  are  freely  used  in  this 
unholy  conflict  with  the  inspired  writings.  The  printed 
lectures  are  circulated  throughout  the  States,  and  are 
eagerly  read  by  young  people,  who  desire  to  root  out  of 
tlieir  minds  every  vestige  of  reverent  faith.  Colonel 
Ingersoll  does  not  hesitate  to  call  the  Almighty  "  revealed 
to  us  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures"  "  a  fiend  and  a  monster." 
He  tells  the  crowds  of  intelligent  men  and  women  who 
throng  to  hear  him,  and  greet  his  sayings  with  much 
applause,  that  "  he  hates  a  God  of  that  kind ;"  and  he 
declares  that  he  will  never  deliver  a  lecture  in  which  he 
will  not  denounce,  in  the  strongest  and  plainest  terms, 
"  the  infamy  of  the  atonement !"  He  is,  he  says,  a  reader 
of  the  Bible.  "  He  has  wasted  a  whole  year  in  reading 
it  through,"  but  only  "  to  expose  its  lies,"  and  "because  it 
is  the  basis  of  the  infamy  of  the  atonement." 

This  is  simply  frightful;  bat  is  it  not  the  natural  out- 
come of  Free-thought?  Private  judgment,  carried  to  its 
legitimate  and  logical  consequences,  means  nothing  more 
or  less  than  pure  Individuahsm ;  and  Individualism  is 
only  another  name  for  Rationalism. 

It  is  not  the  Word  of  God,  enlightening  every  indi- 
vidual, as  is  sentimentally  supposed,  but  every  individual 
giving  that  meaning  to  the  Word  of  God  that  pleases 
himself,  and  falls  in  with  the  views  suggested  by  his  own 
imagination  or  his  own  feelings.  This  man  forms  his 
peculiar  notions  of  sin  and  of  Divine  justice  as  if  he 
fully  understood  the  Infinite  Sanctity  of  the  All-pure  and 
Perfect  Being  who  "  has  made  all  things  well."  He  finds 
a  mistake  in  the  Bible  here,  and  another  there.  "  It  is 
wrong  for  the  Almighty  to  bestow  free-will  upon  His 
rational  creatures.     It  is  wrong  for  God  to  establish  any 


30  INTRODUCTIOIf. 

law  that  is  opposed  to  man's  natural  propensities." 
"  Why,"  lie  asks,  "  should  not  man  do  as  he  likes?"  An- 
other will,  in  the  exercise  of  his  private  judgment,  and  in 
the  glorious  possession  of  his  untrammelled  liberty,  scoff 
at  authority  and  creeds  and  formularies,  and  rush  into 
Mormonism,  or  any  other  'ism  that  takes  his  fancy.  By 
what  right  will  that  Protestantism  which  rebelled  against 
the  Church — the  only  Church  then  existing,  the  Church 
established  by  Christ,  the  Church  of  the  promises,  the 
Church  which  our  Divine  Saviour  commands  us  to  hear 
and  obey  under  pain  of  eternal  separation  from  Him — 
how,  I  say,  will  Protestantism,  this  rebellious  child, 
attempt  to  check  the  wayward  fancies  of  her  rebelliOTTs 
offspring?  Wliat  is  there  to  restrain  the  proud  self- 
sufficiency  which,  once  its  whims  are  gratified,  goes  on 
ever  wanting  more  ?  Must  it  not  end  naturally  and  logi- 
cally in  self-worship,  and  come  practically  to  the  same 
conclusion  as  Ingersoll  and  his  fellows — that  Humanity 
is  the  only  real  religion?  "Why,"  says  this  leader  of 
Free-thought,  "  I  could  beat  the  Ten  Commandments." 
And  no  doubt  he  might  indulge  the  fancy  that  he  could 
improve  the  whole  creation,  and  arrange  the  world  much 
better,  had  he  been  consulted  in  the  work. 

There  is  no  limit  to  human  pride.  It  is  the  origin  of 
all  evil.  "  I  shall  be  like  to  the  Most  High,"  thought 
Lucifer ;  and  the  first  temptation  suggested  by  him  to 
our  first  parents  was,  "  Ye  shall  be  as  gods." 

What  is  the  latest  outcome  of  this  Kationalism,  as  it  is 
propounded  by  the  teachers  of  scientific  Positivism  in 
Great  Britain  ?  This — that  life  is  not  worth  living ;  that 
the  present  world,  with  its  varied  conditions  between  ex- 
cessive wealth  on  the  one  hand  and  squalid  poverty  on  the 
other,  is  a  huge  mistake ;  that  since  the  strong  arm  of 


INTRODUCTIOTT.  31 

power,  with  its  ponderous  guns  and  weapons  of  precision, 
and  inventions  for  wholesale  destruction,  is  a  check  on 
Socialism  and  Communism  and  ^Nihilism,  and  the  other 
imaginary  remedies  for  human  ills,  the  sooner  the  whole 
human  race  dies  out  the  better  for  man. 

Who  does  not  see  the  practical  consequences  of  this 
teaching  ?  Is  it  not  that  it  is  a  good  thing  to  compass 
the  ruin  of  society,  and  that  he  deserves  well  of  his 
fellow-men  who  will  disseminate,  by  voice  and  pen,  the 
moral  poison  that  will  corrupt  and  waste  away  all  healthy 
growth,  break  asunder  the  ties  that  unite  the  family, 
check  the  birth  of  children,  and  reduce  the  civilized 
nations  of  the  earth  to  that  condition  which,  years  ago, 
wrung  from  the  eloquent  Lacordaire,  while  deploring  the 
miseries  of  France,  "  Show  me  a  mem  among  the  effete 
population  of  our  great  cities,  and  I  may  yet  beheve  in 
the  regeneration  of  my  country." 

When,  in  this  once  glorious  land.  Free-thought  and 
Rationalism  have  brought  about  such  a  state  of  things 
that  it  is  enacted  by  law  that  "  citizens  are  to  be  reared 
like  cattle  and  to  be  broken-in  like  horses,"  since,  according 
to  the  Communistic  theory,  children  are  not  the  children 
of  their  fathers  and  mothers,  what  may  we  not  expect  as 
these  principles  are  more  widely  diffused  throughout 
Europe  ?  "  The  moral  unity  of  France,"  accordiifg  to 
the  views  of  the  men  now  in  power,  means  the  extinction 
of  all  forms  of  religious  belief,  thought,  consciousness,  or 
moral  life.  The  French  citizen  must  be  taught,  trained, 
fashioned,  and  drilled  by  an  education,  in  which  the 
existence  of  God  is  a  superstition,  the  name  of  God  an 
equivocal  term,  and  the  moral  law  a  group  of  conven- 
tional usages.  What  is  the  obvious  and  natural  conse- 
quence of  this  irreligion  and  progress  of  Free-thought  ? 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

I  answer  in  the  eloquent  words  of  M.  Jules  Simon : 
"The  miserable  and  sterile  society  that  such  education 
would  produce,  would  be  in  France  an  edition  of  one 
man  in  thirty-six  millions  of  copies — such  unity  is  death." 
And  he  adds  these  significant  words :  "  It  is  not  the  loss 
of  a  battle  or  the  annihilation  of  an  army  that  begins 
the  fall  of  a  people :  a  people  dies  only  by  the  relaxation 
of  its  morals,  by  abandoning  its  manly  habits,  by  the 
effacement  of  its  character,  through  the  invasion  of 
Egoism  and  Scepticism.  It  dies  of  its  corruption.  It 
does  not  die  of  its  wounds." 

Men  may  think  that  such  principles  will  never  be 
adopted  by  the  English-speaking  races.  But  this  is  a 
great  mistake.  When  the  Right  Honorable  Anthony 
John  Mundella,  Yice-President  of  the  Committee  of 
Council,  recently  declared  that  "  these  gigantic  efforts"  in 
France  were  worthy  of  imitation,  and  that  the  thoughts  and 
actions  of  legislatures  are  constantly  tending  in  the  same 
direction  (I  quote  from  a  speech  of  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  reported  in  the  Daily  Post  of  the  18th 
of  last  January),  all  thoughtful  men  who  watch  the  work- 
ing of  the  School  Boards  in  England  may  well  be  anxious. 

But,  as  I  said  in  the  beginning  of  this  Introduction, 
there  are  few  who  thinh  in  this  busy  age.  Men  are  so 
intoxicated  with  the  triumphs  of  material  progress,  so 
wrapt  up  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  so  bent  on  the  "  pride 
of  life,"  that  they  allow  the  public  prints  and  news- 
papers to  do  all  the  thinking  for  them.  Their  only 
ambition  is  to  keep  au  courant  with  the  rapid  stream 
that  is  carrying  them  on  to  Eternity,  and  so  they  reach 
it  unawares:  or,  if  the  distant  prospect  catches  their 
view,  they  ridicule  its  terrors,  as  they  would  the  hob- 
goblin stories  of  childhood. 


INTRODUCTION.  33 

And  what  is  it  that  has  led  to  this  strange  perversion 
of  ideas  ?  Eminently,  the  frivolity  and  thoughtlessness 
of  the  times  in  which  we  live — the  logical  consequences 
of  revolt  against  legitimate  authority;  and  finally,  the 
absence  of  any  power  to  check  the  headlong  course  to- 
ward Eationalism  and  Unbelief.  The  learned  Schleir- 
macher  has  well  said,  "  Protestantism,  in  the  presence  of 
Rationalism,  is  like  an  iceberg  gradually  melting  before 
the  sun." 

I  have  seen  the  process  of  its  melting  in  my  own  ex- 
perience of  fifty  years.  Critical  analysis  of  the  Bible, 
when  the  Holy  Book  stands  alone,  and  unprotected  by 
the  shade  of  "  the  everlasting  Church,"  is  doing  its  work 
rapidly  and  noiselessly.  Block  by  block,  it  is  slipping 
away  into  the  seething  waters  of  hostile  public  opinion. 
Inexorable  Rationalism  is,  with  the  magnifying-glasses 
of  science,  concentrating  the  rays  of  its  searching  exami- 
nation on  every  weak  point  of  the  helplessly  floating 
structure ;  mystery  after  mystery  is  dissolving.  I^ow  it 
is  the  sanction  of  the  Divine  law.  A  few  years  ago  it 
was  the  sacramental  system.  'Next  it  will  be  the  Trinity, 
and  probably  the  whole  Athauasian  Creed,  that  will 
perish  under  this  dissolving  power.  Then,  when  the 
last  block  of  Bible  Christianity  shall  have  disappeared, 
and  the  great  unbounded  ocean  of  Free-thought  will 
have  dashed  from  the  world  the  traditions  of  the  old 
Faith,  there  will  remain  only  ''  the  pillar  and  ground  of 
truth"  to  preserve  the  last  element  of  conservatism  in 
society. 

If  men  would  only  think — if,  while  they  are  talking 
about  liberality  and  freedom  of  opinion,  they  would  only 
cast  from  their  eyes  the  scales  of  prejudice  and  bigotry, 
and  really   exercise   their  judgment,   how   soon  would 


34  INTRODUCTION. 

those  of  good- will  be  brought  to  recognize,  with  wonder 
and  admiration,  "the  everlasting  Church" — the  mother 
of  all  sound  doctrine,  and  that  Catholic  Christianity, 
taught  by  the  Apostles,  and  which  will  be  taught  and 
explained  and  developed  by  their  lawful  successors  to 
the  consummation  of  the  world. 

In  the  first  Chapter  I  purpose  to  give  this  ideal  of  a 
Christian-teaching  Church,  as  it  exists  before  my  mental 
vision,  to  show  what  the  Catholic  Church  really  is,  and 
how,  although  human  in  its  elements,  it  bravely  fulfils 
its  mission  under  the  guidance  and  inspiration  of  the 
Spirit  of  Truth,  which,  according  to  the  promise  of  her 
Divine  Founder,  is  to  abide  with  her  forever.  I  hope 
then  to  dispose  of  the  false  notions  given  of  her  by  her 
enemies ;  to  show  that  it  is  the  distortion  and  the  cari- 
caturing of  Catholic  Christianity  that  has  encouraged 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  numerous  "  isms"  of 
the  age;  to  take  these  one  by  one,  and  analyze  them 
and  point  out  their  hoUowness  and  corruption ;  and  thus 
gradually  lead  those  who  do  not  know  the  Church  to 
look  towards  her,  in  the  midst  of  the  deluge  of  evils  that 
are  threatening  this  unfortunate  world,  as  the  only  ark 
of  safety  for  ftiture  generations. 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 


AND 


MODERN    UNBELIEF. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Catholic  Christianity  and  its  Contrasts. 

ICA'N  never  forget  the  impression  made  upon  my 
mind,  many  years  ago,  when,  in  the  course  of  a  long 
sailing  voyage  from  the  colony  to  England,  I  was  asked 
by  a  fellow-passenger  to  explain  what  was  meant  by  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  Although  the  person  who 
asked  me  did  not  conceal  her  strong  feelings  about  what 
she  called  the  "  fuss"  Catholics  made  in  all  that  related 
to  the  Blessed  Yirgin — "as  if,"  she  said,  "there  was 
anything  more  remarkable  in  Mary  than  in  any  other 
woman." 

I  satisfied  myself  that  she  wished  to  have  a  thorough 
explanation  on  the  point,  and  I  explained  it  as  clearly  as 
I  could.  I  dwelt  particularly  on  the  sanctity  of  God  our 
Saviour,  showing  that  though  He  might,  for  love  of  us, 
"  annihilate"  HimseK,  He  could  not  part  in  the  smallest 
degree  with  His  infinite  purity ;  and  that,  although  His 
chief  work  in  the  Atonement  was  to  satisfy  for  our  sins, 
there  could  be  in  Him  no  actual  participation  in  sin.  I 
then  proceeded  to  show  that  God  the  Son  had  really 
allied  Himself  to  our  human  nature,  that  the  flesh  of 


36      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

Christ  was  tlie  flesh  of  Mary,  and  that  the  Precious  Blood 
wherewith  He  had  washed  away  the  sins  of  the  world 
actually  flowed  in  the  veins  of  His  Virgin  Mother.  He 
was  truly  the  son  of  Mary,  as  truly  as  He  was  the  only- 
begotten  of  the  Father  from  all  eternity — man  to  suffer 
and  God  to  save;  and  from  this  intimate  union  with 
her  she  must,  by  an  extraordinary  privilege,  have  been 
not  only,  as  the  angel  called  her,  "  full  of  grace,"  but 
never,  even  for  a  moment  of  her  personal  existence,  sub- 
ject to  sin  in  any  shape  or  form.  Had  she  been,  like  all 
other  human  creatures,  "  conceived  in  iniquity  and  born 
a  child  of  wrath,"  and  consequently,  though  it  were  only 
for  a  moment,  the  slave  of  Satan,  there  would  have  been 
an  essential  barrier  against  the  perfect  alliance  of  an  all- 
holy  Divine  nature  and  the  inherent  sinfulness  of  human 
nature.  And  I  went  on  to  explain  that  it  had  ever  been 
the  belief  of  the  Fathers  and  Saints  of  the  Catholic 
Church  that,  when  her  soul  was  in  the  first  instant  united 
to  the  germ  of  her  body,  she  was,  through  the  merits  of 
the  Redeemer  to  be  born  of  her,  by  a  special  act  of 
Divine  Providence  preserved  from  the  consequences  of 
the  Fall.  She  had  never  been  for  one  single  instant  the 
creature  and  slave  of  original  sin.  I  further  explained  to 
her — ^f  or  she  was  a  woman  of  rare  intelligence — the  cause 
of  the  difference  of  opinion  between  the  leading  minds 
of  Catholic  schools  of  divinity  on  the  point,  and  showed 
her  that  in  this  all  were  agreed — that  the  Virgin  Mother 
of  Jesus  Christ  had  never  been  sullied  by  the  stain  of 
even  original  guilt. 

I  remember  well  her  answer  when  I  had  finished,  in 
which  the  instincts  of  a  true  Christian,  believing  firmly 
in  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  revealed  itself :  "  It  must  be 
60 — ^it  could  not  be  otherwise.  Who  could  possibly  believe 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS.      37 

that  tlie  pure  blood  of  Jesus  ever  bore  the  slightest  taint 
of  evil  f ' 

I  remember  too,  which  is  much  more  to  the  point,  the 
remark  of  her  husband  who  was  present :  "  Yes,  mj  dear, 
it  seems  all  right  as  Dr.  Eicards  puts  it ;  but  then  you 
should  know  that  Catholic  priests  [I  was  not  Bishop  then] 
are  trained  to  put  their  doctrine  in  any  form  that  is  likely 
to  please,  and  not  to  be  over-particular  about  the  truth, 
provided  they  can  gain  a  convert  to  their  creed."  It  was 
hard  to  bear  patiently  this  insult,  for  it  was  the  first  time 
that  the  odious  charge,  "  The  end  justifies  the  means," 
was  applied  to  me  personally.  Alas !  I  have  learned  since 
to  know,  as  every  Catholic  Bishop  and  priest  knows  only 
too  well,  that  when  he  ventures  to  explain  the  doctrines 
of  his  Church  to  those  who  are  not  of  her  communion,  he 
must  be  prepared  to  subject  himself,  if  not  to  the  open 
charge,  at  least  to  the  grave  suspicion  of  insincerity  and 
deception. 

This  thought  weighs  upon  me  now,  and  almost  deters 
me  from  the  task  I  have  set  before  me.  If  what  I  have 
to  say  about  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  will  appear  reason- 
able and  just  to  non-Catholics  who  may  read  this  book, 
they  will  in  all  likelihood  say  I  am  not  to  be  believed, 
I  am  only  faithful  to  the  lessons  of  deception  in  which  I 
have  been  trained,  by  attempting  to  give  a  false  notion 
of  the  Faith  I  profess. 

I  can  only  protest  against  so  cruel  and  unjust  an  insult, 
and  declare  before  God,  who  sees  the  secrets  of  my  heart 
and  will  hereafter  judge  me,  that  I  loathe  and  detest  any- 
thing like  deception  in  so  grave  a  matter  as  declaring 
"  the  Faith  that  is  in  me ;"  that  I  abominate  the  princi- 
ple, no  matter  by  whom  taught,  if  it  is  indeed  taught  by 
any  reasonable  man  or  body  of  men,  that  "  the  end  justi- 


38      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

fies  tlie  means."  I  hold  most  firmly  that  a  lie  is  under 
all  circumstances  unlawful  in  itself ;  r.nd  that  no  amount 
of  seeming  good,  or  real  good,  that  \vould  be  effected  by 
telling  a  wiKul  lie  could  justify  the  crime. 

Though  strongly  tempted  to  retort,  I  will  confine  my- 
self simply  to  this  solemn  declaration,  that  I  have  rarely, 
if  ever,  seen  any  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  truth- 
fully and  fairly  stated  by  her  enemies.  It  is  this  mis- 
representation— whether  it  be  wilful,  or  have  its  origin  in 
ignorance,  I  cannot  say — that  is  the  chief  cause  of  the 
success,  before  the  unthinking  multitude,  of  the  assaults 
of  Rationalism  upon  Christianity. 

It  is  hard  to  conceive  how  wide-spread  is  this  ignorance. 
But  when  we  consider  that  those  who  are  prejudiced 
against  her  claims  to  authoritative  teaching,  to  her  intol- 
erance of  doctrine  opposed  to  her  own,  and  who  hate  her 
honestly  on  account  of  the  false  charges  of  immorality  so 
often  urged  against  her,  cannot  take  up  one  of  the  books 
of  our  apologists  without  feeling  all  the  influence  of  these 
prejudices  and  this  hatred  ;  that  they  are  disposed  to  see 
evil  lurking  wherever  any  particular  doctrine  or  practice 
commends  itself  to  their  judgment ;  and  that  there  are 
many  of  her  worst  enemies  who  publicly  boast,  as  I 
have  heard  some  Protestant  ministers  boast,  that  they 
have  never  read  a  Catholic  book — the  wonder  is  that 
those  outside  her  pale  know  anything  of  her  true  char- 
acter. 

A  clever  writer  of  the  day, — William  Hurrell  Mallock, 
— ^not  a  Catholic,  well  says  in  reference  to  this  ignorance : 
"  In  this  country  [England]  the  popular  conception  of 
Rome  has  been  so  distorted  by  our  familiarity  with  Pro- 
testantism, that  the  true  conception  of  her  is  something 
quite  strange  to  us.     Our  divines  have  exhibited  her  to 


CATHOLIC   CHEISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS.      39 

US  as  thougli  she  were  a  lapsed  Protes.tant  sect,  and  they 
have  attacked  her  for  being  false  to  doctrines  that  were 
never  really  hers.  They  have  failed  to  see  that  the  first 
and  essential  difference  which  separates  her  from  them 
lies  primarily,  not  in  any  special  dogma,  but  in  the 
authority  on  which  all  her  dogmas  rest.  Protestants  bas- 
ing their  religion  on  the  Bible  solely,  have  conceived  that 
Catholics  of  course  profess  to  do  so  likewise,  and  have 
covered  them  with  invective  for  being  traitors  to  their 
supposed  profession.  But  the  Church's  primary  doc- 
trine is  her  own  perpetual  infallibility.  She  is  inspired, 
she  declares,  by  the  same  Spirit  that  inspired  the  Bible, 
and  her  voice  is  equally  with  the  Bible  the  voice  of  God. 
This  theory,  however,  upon  which  her  whole  fabric  rests, 
popular  Protestantism  either  ignores  altogether,  or  treats 
it  as  if  it  were  a  modern  superstition,  which,  so  far  from 
being  essential  to  the  Church's  system,  is,  on  the  contrary, 
inconsistent  with  it.  Looked  at  in  this  way,  Pome,  to 
the  Protestant's  mind,  has  seemed  naturally  to  be  a  mass 
of  superstitions  and  dishonesties ;  and  it  is  this  view  of 
her,  strangely  enough,  which  our  modern  advanced 
thinkers  have  accepted  without  question.  Though  they 
have  trusted  the  Protestants  in  nothing  else,  they  have 
trusted  them  here.  They  have  taken  the  Protestant's 
word  for  it,  that  Protestantism  is  more  reasonable  than 
Komanism ;  and  they  think  therefore  that  if  they  have 
destroyed  the  former,  a  fortiori  they  have  destroyed 
the  latter." 

This  one  ground  of  misconception,  so  ably  put  by 
Mallock,  vitiates  the  whole  view  of  the  Church  to  out- 
siders. Protestants,  laying  it  down  as  a  matter  of  fact 
that  cannot  be  disputed,  that  the  Bible  and  the  Bible 
only  is  the  sole  rule  of  Faith, — though  strange  to  say  this 


40      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

rule  is  nowhere  found  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures, — proceed 
to  show  with  unbounded  confidence  that  such  and  such 
Catholic  practices  and  doctrines  are  un scriptural — that  is 
to  say,  opposed  to  their  peculiar  views  of  Scripture,  and 
therefore  to  be  condemned. 

But  the  Catholic  Church  teaches  now,  as  she  ever 
taught,  that  she  was  fully  established  long  before  a  word 
of  the  JS^ew  Testament  was  written,  that  she  is  not  the 
creation  of  the  Bible,  and  that  it  belongs  to  her,  as  the 
original  guardian  entrusted  with  its  keeping,  to  expound 
and  declare  its  meaning.  Hence,  as  Mallock  sums  up  the 
argument,  "  If  we  would  obtain  a  true  view  of  the  general 
character  of  Catholicism,  we  must  begin  by  making  a 
clean  sweep  of  all  the  views  that,  as  outsiders,  we  have 
been  taught  to  entertain  about  her.  We  must  in  the 
first  place  learn  to  conceive  of  her  as  a  living  spiritual 
body,  as  infallible  and  as  authoritative  now  as  she  ever 
was,  with  her  eyes  undimmed  and  her  strength  not 
abated,  continuing  to  grow  still,  as  she  has  continued  to 
grow  hitherto ;  and  the  growth  of  the  new  dogmas  that 
she  may  from  time  to  time  enunciate  we  must  learn  to 
see  are,  from  her  own  stand-point,  signs  of  life  and  not 
signs  of  corruption." 

Such  is  "  the  everlasting  Church,"  the  Church  of  the 
creeds,  the  Church  founded  by  Jesus  Christ,  whose  life 
and  soul  is  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  which, 
according  to  the  eternal  promise  of  her  Founder,  must 
abide  with  her  forever.  Such  is  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church  as  she  appears  in  my  eyes,  and  as  she  appears  to 
all  believers  in  her  Divine  institution.  I  see  her  include 
in  her  vast  extent  the  teaching  body  and  the  taught. 
She  offers  me  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  which  she  has  faith- 
fully preserved  from  the  beginning.     She  guarantees  to 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   CONTRASTS.      41 

me  their  authenticity  and  integrity.  She  declares  them 
to  be  the  inspired  Word  of  God,  and  offers  to  explain  to 
me  their  meaning — often  obscure,  and  hard  to  be  under- 
stood. In  the  discharge  of  this  duty  of  teaching  I  know 
she  cannot  lead  me  astray,  for  does  not  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
teach  her  all  truth  and  abide  with  her  forever  ?  Hence 
in  the  Catholic  Church  I  can  find  rest  for  my  weary  soul 
under  the  shadow  of  her  wings.  There  is  no  need  to 
spend  my  days  in  doubting  and  disputing.  From  her 
lips  I  can  know  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  If  there 
is  anything  beyond  my  comprehension  in  the  mysteries 
w^hich  she  proposes,  I  know  without  doubt  that  she  is 
telling  me  what  God  has  told  her  about  Himself.  I  am 
not  distracted  with  the  thought  that  He  may  have  meant 
me  to  understand  this  revelation  in  some  other  way  in 
which  it  would  be  possible  for  my  finite  reason  to  receive 
it.  If  the  proud  feeling  that  sometimes  awakens  the 
primeval  temptation,  "  I  shall  be  like  to  the  Most  High," 
comes  to  disturb  me,  and  prompts  me  to  rebel  against 
being  obliged  to  believe  what  I  do  not  comprehend, 
knowing  that  God  cannot  deceive  me,  I  reason  with  my- 
seK  and  say,  "  Is  it  not  fitting,  is  it  not  natural  and  right, 
that  I  cannot  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  all-perfect 
Spirit  who  has  made  all  things  ?  If  I  clearly  saw  His 
Divine  attributes,  and  understood  the  Divine  nature,  and 
the  Trinity  of  Persons,  and  the  Incarnation,  and  the  whole 
economy  of  the  Atonement,  then  I  might  indeed  doubt  if 
the  religion  that  was  so  accommodated  to  my  limited 
perceptions  was  really  from  God." 

Hence  I  see  that  to  receive  the  message  of  God  con- 
cerning these  exalted  things  -svithout  the  least  doubt,  as 
"  the  evidence  of  things  which  appear  not,"  I  am  paying 
to  God  the  greatest  honor  which  a  rational  creature  can 


42      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

offer  to  his  Creator.  If  it  be  objected  that  it  is  degrading 
to  believe,  with  the  full  assent  of  the  mind,  what  is  unin- 
telligible, I  answer,  Yes,  it  would  be  degrading  to  express 
belief  in  it  if  the  grounds  for  this  confidence  were  not  in 
every  respect  satisfactory. 

The  blind  man  believes,  on  the  testimony  of  his  friends, 
things  that  are  perfectly  unintelligible  to  him,  and  one 
might  say  absolutely  contradictory  to  his  limited  sense. 
Place  the  man  bom  blind  before  a  mirror,  and  tell  him 
that  in  a  moment  a  perfect,  life-like  image  of  himself  is 
produced,  and  not  only  of  himself,  but  of  every  object 
around  him,  you  ask  him  to  believe  a  greater  miracle  in 
his  regard  than  we  can  well  imagine.  If  he  test  the 
alleged  fact  by  the  sense  of  touch,  he  finds  evidence  to 
his  mind  of  the  absolute  falsity  of  what  is  proposed  to 
him.  It  is  impossible,  he  feels,  that  many  objects  around 
him  and  his  own  person  can  be  depicted  on  the  flat  and 
uniform  surface  beneath  his  hand.  But  the  testimony 
of  this  unintelligible  fact  satisfies  his  doubts,  and  he 
believes  reasonably,  and  without  the  least  blame,  the 
truth  that  is  set  before  him.  ^ay,  more  :  he  would,  in 
the  judgment  of  all  men,  though  he  cannot  possibly 
understand  the  reasons  derived  from  the  laws  of  reflection 
of  light,  judge  stupidly  and  obstinately  if  he  preferred 
his  own  opinion  in  opposition  to  the  positive  testimony 
of  those  who  concur  in  stating  the  simple  fact.  Had  we 
a  sixth  or  seventh  sense,  whereby  we  could  estimate  the 
real  value  of  supernatural  things,  we  might  question  the 
testimony  of  God,  announced  by  His  infallible  Church ; 
bnt  being  more  ignorant  than  the  blind  man  in  the  case 
alleged,  it  is  obstinate  folly  to  resist  the  testimony.  When 
men  clearly  comprehend  their  own  dual  existence,  the 
nature  of  the  soul,  its  ubiquity  in  the  matenal  body,  what 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS.      43 

a  spirit  is,  what  is  life,  and  a  thousand  cognate  truths, 
then  indeed  it  would  be  degrading  to  believe,  in  opposi- 
tion to  this  supernatural  knowledge,  whatever  was  clearly 
and  unmistakably  opposed  to  it.  But  when  the  truth 
of  God's  teachiug,  which  is  immeasurably  beyond  the 
testimony  of  man,  affirms  the  fact  of  incomprehensible 
dogmas,  it  is  worse  than  folly  and  stupidity  to  argue 
against  the  possibility  of  their  existence. 

I  remember  once_^a  scientific  gentleman  undertaking  to 
prove  to  me  that  the  invocation  of  the  saints,  as  proposed 
by  the  Catholic  Church,  necessarily  involved  attributing 
to  the  saints  qualities  belonging  only  to  God,  and  the 
consequence  that  we  Catholics  believed  the  Blessed 
Virgin  and  the  saints  to  be  real  gods,  and  offering  a 
wager  that  he  would  prove  his  argument  to  a  perfect 
demonstration.  Though  I  would  not  bet  on  the  point, 
I  defied  him  to  his  proof.  It  was  no  doubt  very  simple 
and  satisfactory  to  his  own  judgment.  "  There  are  thou- 
sands, perhaps  tens  of  thousands,  at  this  moment,"  he 
said,  "  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  invoking  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  You  believe  that  she  can 
hear  them  all.  Therefore,"  he  concluded,  "  you  manifestly 
attribute  to  her  omniscience  and  ubiquity — attributes 
which  all  reasonable  men  confine  to  the  Divine  nature." 
He  felt  more  than  humiliated  by  my  answer.  I  said, 
"  Yes,  your  argument  would  be  good  as  regards  beings  in 
the  present  state  of  existence,  where  knowledge  is  derived 
through  the  senses.  But  we  are  speaking  of  beings  who 
have  '  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil ; '  who  exist  in  another 
mode  of  existence  of  which  we  can  form  no  idea;  who, 
really  enjoying  personal  life  [for  he  believed  in  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul],  see  without  eyes,  hear  without 
ears,  and  stand  in  no  need  of  matter  to  communicate  with 


44      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

each  other.  First  explain  to  me,"  I  said,  "  this  mode  of 
existence;  describe  a  spirit  to  me,  and  its  relations  to 
space.  Put  all  this  clearly  before  me,  and  then  we  may 
talk  of  demonstration." 

Men  may  be  highly  scientific,  as  far  as  this  physical 
world  is  concerned,  and  yet  fools  compared  to  the  simple 
humble  Catholic  who  never  thinks  of  questioning  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  which  our  Divine  Lord  commands 
us  to  hear  under  pain  of  eternal  separation  from  Him. 
The  worst  of  it  is,  that  men  learned  in  science,  when  an 
argument  of  this  kind  is  pressed  to  its  legitimate  conclu- 
sion, give  way  to  irritation  of  temper,  and  forthwith 
commence  abusing  the  Church,  and  repudiating  her  claims 
to  teach  us. 

"She  is,"  they  say,  "the  enemy  of  progress;  she  is 
behind  the  age ;  she  is  blind  to  the  discoveries  of  science ; 
she  won't  move  forward  with  the  human  family;  she 
teaches  now  as  she  did  eighteen  hundred  years  ago :  how 
then  can  any  one  of  common-sense  listen  patiently  to  her 
old-fashioned  talk,  and  be  satisfied  with  her  antiquated 
nonsense?  Then  she  is  so  perverse  and  obstinate  and 
intolerant.  She  condemns  every  one  to  eternal  fire  that 
will  not  listen  to  her  stupid  mumblings.  She  persecuted 
while  she  dared ;  but,  thanks  to  Free-thought  ['  aye  there's 
the  rub'],  we  have  through  the  glorious  apostle  of 
Kberty,  the  mighty  Luther,  flung  her  authority  to  the 
winds.  We  will  judge  for  ourselves  ;  and  if  our  Divine 
Lord  commanded  us  to  hear  her.  He  did  not  know  how 
silly  and  foolish  and  su]3erstitious  and  credulous  she  would 
become  in  the  course  of  ages.  We  are  certain  that,  if 
He  again  appeared  on  earth.  He  would  recognize  as  His 
true  disciples  only  those  who  have  learned  in  the  school 
of  progress  to  believe  in  positive  facts,  and  what  their 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND  ITS  CONTRASTS.      45 

good  practical  common-sense  accepts.  He  would  care 
nothing  for  the  senseless  and  unreasoning  crowd  who 
take  their  religion  on  trust,  and  are  always  pointing  out 
the  necessity  of  simple  obedience  to  legitimate  authority, 
and  submission  to  the  Divine  will  and  its  ordinances,  and 
taking  up  the  cross  daily  and  bearing  it  in  the  spirit  of 
that  simple  and  humble  docility  which  is  so  opposed  to 
self-respect  and  the  innate  spirit  of  manly  independence." 

Let  me  examine  for  a  moment  seriously  the  meaning 
of  these  outbursts  of  ill-tempered  and  inconsiderate  abuse 
of  the  venerable  Church  of  ages.  Are  they  really  well 
grounded  ?  Is  there  at  least  something  sound  and  sensi- 
ble on  which  they  rest  ? 

Suppose  that  I  admit  that  the  Catholic  Church  teaches 
in  this  nineteenth  century  of  her  existence  the  same 
doctrines  which  our  Divine  Lord  and  His  Apostles 
taught,  I  am  met  with  an  outcry  on  every  hand  dissent- 
ing violently  from  this  proposition.  If  I  say  she  has 
toned  down  the  primitive  doctrine  and  adapted  it  to  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  there  is  the  same  loud  outcry  of  dissent. 
It  is  difficult  to  determine,  in  this  conflict  of  contradictory 
opinions,  what  is  precisely  the  charge  conveyed  in  this 
reproach  of  the  Church  being  in  opposition  to  the  prog- 
ress of  society. 

"It  seems,"  as  Father  Oakley  so  admirably  puts  it, 
"  that  one  of  the  most  striking  marks  of  her  truth,  in  the 
presence  of  a  noisy  and  frivolous  generation,  is  the  fact 
that  she  is  the  inheritor  of  the  reproaches  heaped  on 
her  Divine  Founder.  Men  do  not  care  nowadays  to 
spend  time  in  considering  the  marks  of  Unity,  Sanctity, 
Apostolicity,  and  Catholicity.  They  have  almost  lost  the 
meaning  of  these  terms,  but  a  point  like  this  '  he  that 
runs  may  read.'     Just  as  our  Divine  Lord  was  assailed  by 


46      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

His  enemies  with  tlie  most  contradictory  charges,  so  is 
His  Church.  His  words  are  literally  fulfilled :  '  You 
shall  be  hated  by  all  men  for  My  name's  sake.  The  dis- 
ciple is  not  above  his  master '  (Matt.  x.  22,  24).  There 
exists  beyond  dispute  a  wide-spread  unreasoning  hate 
against  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  sources  of  this  hatred 
are  as  varied  as  are  the  conditions  of  mankind.  It  is  a 
giant  bugbear,  which  has  the  faculty  of  transforming  it- 
self  into  a  thousand  shapes,  as  reflected  on  the  retina  of  a 
thousand  different  eyes.  It  has  one  side  of  odiousness  to 
the  statesman,  another  to  the  civil  governor,  another  to 
the  man  of  business,  another  to  the  men  of  the  world, 
another  to  the  family  man,  another  to  the  profligate, 
another  to  the  rigorist.  Some  dislike  one  of  its  doctrines, 
some  another,  while  some  object  to  all  alike.  There  is 
also  a  large  class  of  persons  who  have  no  deflnite  idea 
about  the  Catholic  Church  at  all,  but  abhor  it  merely  be- 
cause it  is  unpopular.  It  must  be  wrong,  they  say,  or  it 
could  not  be  so  generally  hated "  ("  The  Church  of  the 
Bible,"  by  the  Kev.  Frederick  Oakley,  M.A.). 

Some  say  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  too  lax  in  her 
morality;  others  that  she  is  the  inhuman  tyrant  and 
butcher  of  conscience.  Some  maintain  that  she  is  the 
friend  of  despotism,  the  extravagant  upholder  of  Right 
Divine,  and  others  that  she  is  eminently  disloyal,  and  the 
secret  fomenter  of  anarchy  and  rebellion.  Surely  all 
these  contradictory  charges  cannot  be  true  at  the  same 
time.  There  is  one  fact  and  it  cannot  be  doubted,  and 
that  is,  that  the  Church,  from  whatever  causes  the  feeling 
may  arise,  is  an  object  of  hatred  to  those  who  are  not  of 
her. 

In  this  respect  she  stands  forth  distinct  from  all  other 
institutions  in  the  world.     She  is  eminently  hated  alike 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS.      47 

by  unbelievers  in  Christianity,  and  by  tbe  various  and  mul- 
tiform sects  that  differ  from  her  in  their  belief.  It  may 
be  safely  said  that  the  one  point  in  which  all  sects  of 
Christians  cordially  unite  is  their  hatred  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  This  open  and  avowed  hatred  is,  I 
maintain,  one  of  the  most  striking  marks  that  she  is  the 
true  Church  of  Christ.  The  Church  of  the  days  of  the 
Apostles  was  similarly  hated.  "  Wonder  not,  brethren,*' 
says  St.  John,  "  if  the  world  hate  you  "  (1  John  iii.  13). 
And  the  causes  and  character  of  this  hatred  are  the  same 
as  they  were  in  the  time  of  our  Divine  Lord :  "  If  the 
world  hate  you,  know  ye  that  it  hated  Me  before  you. 
If  you  had  been  of  the  world,  the  world  would  love  its 
own ;  but  because  you  are  not  of  the  world,  but  I  have 
chosen  you  out  of  the  world,  therefore  the  world  hateth 
you "  (John  xv.  18,  19).  Do  not  these  words  of  our 
Divine  Lord  seem  exactly  to  hit  the  point  ?  For  if  there 
be  one  cause,  more  than  another,  the  chief  source  of  the 
world's  hatred  against  the  Church  it  is  this — that  she  is 
not  of  the  world. 

For  what  does  all  this  ill-tempered  abuse,  which  I 
noticed  above,  come  to  but  to  this  very  particular  ?  The 
Church  is  old-fashioned,  out  of  time  with  progress,  always 
in  the  way  of  the  world.     Therefore  the  world  hates  her. 

"Well,  let  us  ask,  is  the  Church  quite  wrong  in  teaching 
the  same  truths  that  excited  this  strong  feeling  against 
the  Redeemer  ?  Should  she  change  her  doctrine  with  the 
popular  views  and  fashionable  theories  of  the  times? 
Should  she  accommodate  her  principles  to  the  ideas  of 
Free-thought  ?  Should  she  preach  society  without  God, 
government  without  God,  education  without  God,  the 
family  without  God,  sanction  divorce,  the  rule  of  might 
without  right,  and  the  unprincipled  logic  of  accomplished 


48      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

facts,  and  all  the  other  wild  fancies  of  unbridled 
rationalism  that  are  desolating  mankind  ?  "No,  a  thousand 
times,  no.  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,"  but  the 
words  of  Him  who  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  " 
shall  never  pass  away.  The  morality  of  the  Gospel,  as 
explained  by  the  Catholic  Church,  is  founded  on  truths 
that  are  as  fixed  and  eternal  as  the  God  who  revealed 
them,  and  therefore  it  can  never  change.  And  if  the 
Church  is  as  determined  now  as  she  was  in  the  beginning, 
*'  when  kings  of  the  earth  stood  up,  and  the  princes 
assembled  together  against  the  Lord  and  against  His 
Christ ;"  if  to  the  threats  of  angry  human  power  she  ex- 
claims with  the  Apostles,  "Judge  ye  if  it  be  just  to  hear 
you  rather  than  God,"  and  goes  on  her  steady  way,  like 
the  wise  householder,  bringing  forth  from  her  treasury 
"  old  things  and  new,"  as  indifferent  to  the  world's  cen- 
sure as  to  its  applause — why  should  she  be  charged  with 
stupid  obstinacy,  and  perversity  and  intolerance  ?  Is  not 
the  course  she  follows  the  proper  one  to  fulfil  her  high 
mission  with  unshaken  fidelity,  and,  like  her  Divine 
Founder,  to  brave  the  world's  hatred  by  disdaining  to 
accommodate  herself  to  the  world's  ever-changing  and 
unstable  ways  ? 

Much  is  made  of  this  cry  of  intolerance.  But  is  not 
truth  necessarily  intolerant  ?  There  is  no  greater  enemy 
to  truth  than  easy  and  f)liant  indiiference.  Old  Pagan 
Rome  could  afford  to  offer  a  home  to  the  false  deities  of 
the  conquered  nations,  because  she  did  not  possess  the 
true  religion  herself.  But  the  Catholic  Church,  possess- 
ing the  immutable  principles  of  truth,  believing  that  she 
is  guided  in  her  interpretation  of  this  truth  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  abiding  with  her,  can  make  no  sacrifice  of  this 
priceless  treasure. 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS.      49 

"  She  would  therefore  persecute,"  it  is  objected.  "  If 
she  had  the  power  she  would  burn  men  at  the  stake  if 
they  refused  her  teaching."  The  Catholic  Church  never 
persecuted,  but  tried  by  every  means  in  her  power  to 
moderate  the  spirit  of  those  times  that  regarded  persecu- 
tion as  a  necessity  against  the  ravages  of  error  and  the 
levelling  principles  that  sprung  from  Free-thought.  Let 
men  who  are  forever  howling  over  the  abominations  of 
the  Inquisition  think  seriously  over  these  words  of  Hal- 
lam,  and  they  will  learn  to  be  silent  over  the  inhuman  bar- 
barities of  past  ages :  "  Persecution  is  the  deadly  origi- 
nal sin  of  the  Reformed  churches,  that  cools  every  honest 
soul  for  the  cause  in  proportion  as  his  reading  becomes 
more  extensive"  (Hallam's  "  Constitutional  History,"  vol. 
i.,  page  95). 

"  But,"  continues  the  objector,  "  you  cannot  deny  that 
she  condemns  to  everlasting  fire  those  who  do  not  receive 
her  teaching."  I  answer:  The  Catholic  Church  con- 
demns no  one  to  hell.  She  only  declares  that  Faith  is  a 
necessary  condition  to  salvation,  and  that  Faith  must  of 
its  very  nature  be  one,  and  that  Faith  includes  all  the 
doctrines  which  our  Divine  Lord  commanded  the  Apos- 
tles to  announce  to  the  world ;  and  consequently  that 
they  who  obstinately  refuse  to  accept  this  Faith  expose 
themselves,  by  the  ordinance  of  Christ,  to  eternal  ruin. 
"He  that  believeth  not  shall  be  condemned"  (Matt.  xvi. 
16).  The  Church  proclaims  the  terrible  law  laid  down 
by  her  Divine  Founder,  and  by  every  means  in  her  power 
endeavors  to  guard  all  who  hear  her  voice  from  the  dread 
consequences  of  its  violation.  She  has  not  made  the  law, 
for  it  belongs  only  to  the  Almighty  Lord  and  Master  of 
all  things  to  determine  a  law  like  this  involving  so  severe 
a  sanction.     The  Church  does  not  condemn  any  Individ- 


50      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

Tial,  nor  judge  whether  he  is  "  worthy  of  love  or  hatred." 
It  is  Christ  Himself,  our  merciful  Eedeemer,  who,  in 
His  capacity  as  Judge  of  the  living  and  the  dead,  will 
say  to  the  perversely  wicked  who  had  to  the  end  of  the 
time  of  trial  preferred  the  conceits  of  Free-thought  to 
the  immutable  law  of  God,  "  Depart,  ye  accursed,  into 
everlasting  fire."  "Who  is  he  that  shall  condemn? 
Christ  Jesus  who  died,  yea  who  rose  again,  who  is  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us" 
(Kom.  viii.  34). 

These  are  some  of  the  charges  which  are,  in  angry 
moments,  hurled  at  the  venerable  Church  of  God  when 
she  mildly  remonstrates  with  Christians  who  prefer  toy- 
ing with  the  creations  of  Free-thought  to  what  they  call 
her  old-fashioned  teaching.  There  are  of  course  many 
others — indeed,  their  name  is  legion ;  but  it  would  be 
worse  than  useless  to  notice  them  here. 

The  main  point,  the  question  of  questions  for  all  who 
hope  for  life  eternal  through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ, 
is  to  determine  whether  the  Church  founded  by  our 
Divine  Lord,  which  could  never  fail  in  her  office  of 
teaching  and  expounding  His  doctrine,  has  a  right  divine 
to  teach  us,  and  if  we  are  bound  to  receive  her  teaching. 
The  right  to  teach  with  authority,  and  the  duty  of  simple 
and  docile  obedience  to  the  teaching  body,  are  principles 
which  jar  with  the  restless  spirit  of  the  age.  I  have 
hitherto  tried  to  reconcile  them  to  the  prejudices  of  be- 
lievers. 

To  go  further  would  be  to  enter  into  the  mazes  of  his- 
torical and  polemical  argument,  which  makes  the  whole 
life  of  Christians  who  "will  not  hear  the  Church"  a 
weary,  endless  round  of  doubting  and  disputing  and 
protesting.     As  regards  Unbelievers,  Eationalists,  Agnos- 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS.      51 

tics,  Positivists,  Pantheists,  and  Atheists,  I  would  say  to 
any  such  as  may  care  to  look  through  this  book — 

Be  sure  you  set  before  your  eyes  as  the  object  of  your 
Free-thinking  assaults  not  some  peculiar  form  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  Catholic  Christianity.  Don't  set  up  some 
monstrosity  or  caricature  of  Christianity  tinged  with  the 
sombre  shades  of  predestination,  or  decked  out  with  the 
meretricious  ornaments  of  sentimentalism  and  the  glaring 
colors  of  emotional  fervor.  It  will  be  easy  to  bear  down 
with  your  lance  of  common-sense  such  lifeless  scare- 
crows as  these.  You  may  poke  them  out  of  the  field 
with  the  lath  of  ridicule  or  the  light  weapon  of  wit.  If 
you  are  in  earnest  in  supporting  the  claims  of  natural 
religion  against  such  travesties  of  revealed  truth  as  pri- 
vate judgment  independent  of  Church  authority  has  de- 
veloped, you  can  hardly  feel  comfort  for  your  inward 
consciousness  in  such  poor  triumphs.  It  will  be  only 
loss  of  time,  a  mere  sham-fight  with  shadowy  nothings, 
from  which  can  come  no  solid,  practical  advantage. 

Mark  well  the  position  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
you  will  soon  find  that  you  have  an  adversary  worthy  of 
your  steel.  Her  ground  in  the  contest  is  clear  and  un- 
mistakable. She  claims  to  be  the  old  Church  founded 
by  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Apostles.  She  claims  to  be  the 
Church  of  the  unfailing  promises.  She  proves  her  right 
to  explain  the  written  Word  of  God  with  infallible  au- 
thority. Any  teaching  bodies  that  dare  not  make  these 
claims  can  evidently  be  no  teachers  or  defenders  of  dog- 
matic supernatural  Revelation.  "Any  supernatural  religion 
that  renounces  its  claim  to  absolute  infallibility  it  is  clear 
can  profess  to  be  a  semi-revelation  only."  I  quote  again 
from  Mallock :  "  It  is  a  hybrid  thing,  partly  natural  and 
partly  supernatural,  and  it   thus  practically  has  all  the 


52      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   CONTRASTS. 

qualities  of  a  religion  that  is  wholly  natural.  In  so  far 
as  it  professes  to  be  revealed,  it  of  course  professes  to  be 
infallible  ;  but  if  the  revealed  part  be,  in  the  first  place, 
hard  to  distinguish,  and,  in  the  second  place,  hard  to 
understand — it  may  mean  many  things,  and  many  of 
these  things  contradictory — it  might  just  as  well  have 
been  never  made  at  all.  To  make  it  in  any  sense  an  in- 
fallible revelation,  or  in  other  words  a  revelation  to  us, 
we  need  a  power  to  interpret  the  testament  that  shall 
have  equal  authority  with  the  testament  itself." 

This  is  putting  the  truth  plainly  and  fairly,  and  it  is  so 
clearly  taught  by  an  example  that  there  can  be  no  longer 
any  mistake  about  it.  "  That  example,"  continues  this 
writer,  "  is  Protestant  Christianity,  and  the  condition  to 
which  after  three  centuries,  it  is  now  visibly  bringing 
itseK.  It  is  at  last  beginning  to  exhibit  to  us  the  true 
result  of  the  denial  of  infallibility  to  a  religion  that  pro- 
fesses to  be  supernatural.  We  are  at  last  beginning  to 
see  in  it  neither  the  purifier  of  a  corrupted  revelation  nor 
the  corruption  of  a  pure  revelation,  but  the  practical 
denier  of  all  revelation  whatsoever." 

It  will  not  do  for  the  unbeliever  to  say  with  Inger- 
soU,  "  That  God  of  the  Bible  is  a  fiend ;  I  will  have  none 
of  Him — a  God  who  created  hell  to  punish  His  creatures 
for  faults  they  could  not  help,  who  has  taken  away  from 
human  nature  all  liberty  of  action,  who  takes  infinite 
pleasure  in  the  tortures  of  His  helpless  children,"  etc., 
etc.  This  may  be  the  God  of  Calvinism,  but  it  is  not 
the  God  set  before  us  by  Catholic  Christianity — far  dif- 
ferent. "  The  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  patient 
and  of  much  compassion,  and  true ;  who  keepest  mercy 
unto  thousands;  who  takest  away  iniquity,  and  wicked- 
ness, and  sin"  (Exodus  xxxiv.  6,  Y). 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIATSTTY   ATTD   ITS   CONTRASTS.      53 

These  writers  who  lead  tlie  van  in  natural  religion  are 
loud  in  their  praises  of  free-will,  natural  goodness,  and 
natural  virtue,  as  if  these  qualities  of  fallen  human 
nature  were  ignored  by  the  religion  of  the  Bible.  They 
are  no  doubt  disregarded  by  the  heresies  that,  in  their 
blind  zeal  against  Pelagianism,  destroy  the  power  of  the 
human  will,  and  deny  it  any  ability  of  co-operation  with 
Divine  grace.  Man,  according  to  the  stupid  upholders 
of  these  opinions,  is  like  a  brute  or  a  tree  as  far  as  free- 
will is  concerned,  and  is  the  helpless  victim  of  necessity, 
cursed  and  lost  eternally  by  the  dread  fiat  of  His  creator. 
But  man,  in  the  fixed  belief  of  Catholic  Christianity,  is 
endowed  with  free-will,  inclined  no  doubt  to  evil  by  the 
loss  of  sanctifying  grace,  but  though  disinherited,  per- 
fectly free  in  the  full  possession  of  his  natural  faculties, 
and  able,  through  the  grace  purchased  for  us  all  by  the 
death  of  Christ,  to  regain  his  lost  inheritance,  and  reign 
forever  with  God  in  Heaven. 

I  never  read  anything  in  the  shape  of  stories  of  the 
imagination  that  gave  me  more  heartfelt  pleasure  than 
those  charming  pages  of  Charles  Dickens  which  excite 
our  sympathies  for  the  most  fallen  and  uncared-for  of  the 
human  family.  There  is  a  germ  of  good  in  poor  creatures 
like  "  Joe"  in  "  Bleak  House  "  and  "  N'ancy"  in  "  Oliver 
Twist"  that  ordinary  Christian  charity  might  develop  into 
bright  flowers  fit  for  paradise.  Many  of  the  religious 
orders  of  the  Catholic  Church  prove  by  their  successful 
labors  that  this  is  no  sentimental  belief,  but  is  in  fact 
their  raison  d^etre.  The  Rationalists  hate  and  execrate 
cant  and  hypocrisy  and  its  accompanying  vices;  and 
Catholic  instincts,  if  they  are  guided  by  Christian  charity, 
naturally  abominate  such  characters  as  are  represented 


54      CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND    ITS    CONTRASTS. 

under  the  Heaps,  and  Pecksnijffs,  and  shepherds,  of  a  false 
and  deluded  Christianity. 

If  Catholic  Christianity  were  only  understood  by  the 
brilliant  and  gifted  leaders  of  modem  Free-thought,  and 
studied  apart  from  the  wretched  and  grovelling  imitations 
of  it  founded  on  animal  feeling  and  gushing  sentimen- 
talism,  they  would  fall  down  and  worship  it.  I  can  con- 
ceive nothing  more  pure  and  beautiful,  more  worthy  of 
God,  as  far  as  we  can  know  of  His  loving  mercy,  and 
more  consoling  to  poor  fallen  humanity,  than  the  practical 
teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  it  is  developed  in  her 
whole  system  of  belief  and  morality  ;  but  more  bright  and 
glorious  still,  breathing  of  Heaven  and  angelic  purity, 
meek  and  humble  of  heart  like  the  lowly  Jesus,  self-sac- 
rificing like  the  Redeemer,  as  it  is  eminently  exemplified 
in  the  ecclesiastical  state  and  in  the  religious  orders  of 
both  sexes.  It  will  be  my  purpose  to  bring  this  truth 
before  the  reader  in  the  chapters  immediately  following. 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      55 


CHAPTEK  11. 
Catholic   Christianity  and  its  Mysteries. 

THOSE  who  take  a  real  interest  in  the  education 
and  training  of  children  find  a  positive  delight  in 
meeting  occasionally  with  a  bright  specimen  of  unaffected 
candor  and  simplicity,  who,  looking  into  the  eyes  of  the 
teaclier  with  that  expression  which  seems  to  impart 
intelligence  to  the  faithful  hound,  timidly  yet  trustingly 
unfolds  the  germ  of  some  original  thought.  If  the  very 
clever  writer  who  has  told  us  such  charming  stories  about 
"  Alice"  and  her  childish  dreams  would  concentrate  his 
marvellous  powers  of  observation  on  the  religious  notions 
of  gifted  children,  and  set  them  before  the  pubhc  in  his 
attractive  style,  he  would  confer  a  positive  blessing  on 
the  age.  I  have  heard  myself  such  pertinent  questions 
put  me  by  a  young  boy  or  girl  in  the  catechism  class 
that  I  felt  myself  for  a  moment  unable  to  answer,  carried 
away  as  I  was  by  the  wistful  look  of  the  little  questioner 
and  the  thoughtful  words,  to  analyze  the  process  of 
mental  working  that  had  evolved  this  budding  flower  of 
fancy. 

What  was  the  deep  meaning  of  the  words  of  our  Divine 
Lord,  "  out  of  the  mouths  of  infants  and  sucklings  thou 
hast  perfected  praise"  (Matt.  xxi.  16),  or  what  was  the 
vision  before  the  mind  of  the  inspired  Psalmist  when  he 
penned  them  ?  Who  shall  say  for  certain  when  the  most 
learned  interpreters  and  commentators  differ  ?     It  strikes 


56      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS    MYSTERIES. 

me  however,  in  relation  to  the  subject  of  mysteries, 
which  I  am  to  treat  of  in  this  chapter,  that  these  words 
of  our  Lord  have  an  intimate  connection  with  those 
addressed  to  the  Apostles  fascinated  by  ambitions  dreams 
of  future  glory — "unless  you  become  as  little  children, 
you  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven"  (Matt, 
xviii.  3).  He  was  reproving  the  proud  indignation  of 
the  chief  priests  and  scribes  when  He  declared  that  the 
little  ones  crying  out  "Hosanna"  in  the  Temple  had 
offered  to  Him  "the  most  perfect  praise."  It  would 
appear  from  the  whole  connection  that  simple,  humble, 
child-like  Faith  is  more  precious  in  the  sight  of  God  than 
the  grandest  speculations  of  proud  reason  about  the 
Divine  nature  and  its  attributes. 

The  mother-superior  of  one  of  our  convents  told  me 
that  while  she  was  explaining  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity 
to  a  class  of  youngsters,  a  bright-eyed,  intelligent-looking 
girl  said  to  her,  "  Mother,  how  can  the  three  Divine  per- 
sons be  one  person  ?  There  is  father,  and  mother,  and 
my  big  brother  at  home,  and  they  all  love  each  other  so 
fondly,  and  they  all  say  the  same  thing  to  us  little  ones, 
and  they  never  dispute ;  but  they  are  not  one."  She  first 
told  the  child  that  the  catechism  did  not  say  the  three 
Persons  are  one  Person,  or  that  three  Gods  are  one  God, 
because  that  would  be  saying  what  was  manifestly  im- 
possible. "  It  tells  us,"  she  went  on,  "  that  the  three 
Persons  have  all  the  one  Divine  nature.  "What  that 
nature  is  we  cannot  clearly  understand.  It  is  too  great, 
too  vast,  too  immense,  for  our  little  minds  to  grasp  it. 
Look  around  you:  it  is  the  great  God  who  has  made 
everything  you  see — this  huge  earth  with  all  its  creatures, 
the  heavens  above  you,  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars,  and 
His  presence  fills  all  space.     If  we  could  comprehend 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      57 

what  the  great  God  is,  He  would  then  cease  to  be  God. 
He  would  no  longer  be  the  Infinite  Being  He  is."  While 
the  good  nun  thus  explained  the  mystery  to  the  won- 
dering child,  it  required  no  effort  of  the  imagination  to 
mark  the  effect  of  this  simple  teaching  on  the  soul 
sanctified  by  Baptism,  and  sweetly  disposed  by  this 
sacrament  to  supernatural  Faith.  I  could  well  under- 
stand that  the  teacher  was  awed  and  impressed  by  the 
reverent  expression,  and  the  uplifted  eyes,  and  the 
clasped  hands,  and  that  she  could  scarcely  restrain  her 
tears  as  she  saw  the  moist  eyes  and  quivering  lip  of  her 
interesting  little  pupil,  who  was  no  doubt  praising  God 
with  that  perfect  praise  so  dear  and  precious  in  His 
sight. 

What  a  contrast  to  this  simple,  docile,  reverent  Faith 
is  the  cynical  and  blasphemous  effrontery  of  one  of  the 
leaders  of  modern  thought,  who  says  in  the  presence  of  a 
large  audience,  who  have  led  one  another  to  believe  that 
it  is  the  correct  thing  to  laugh  and  be  amused  at  the 
wit  of  the  lecturer,  "  If  we  had  been  bom  in  India  we 
would  have  believed  in  a  God  with  three  heads.  ISTow 
we  believe  in  three  Gods  with  one  head"  !  This  is  one 
of  the  effects  of  Free-thought :  it  has  led  clever  men  to 
fling  Faith  and  reverence  to  the  winds,  and  set  them  on  to 
misuse  the  talents  God  gave  them  to  caricature  HimseK 
and  misrepresent  His  Divine  message. 

Suppose  some  one  were  to  point  out  to  this  genius  of 
modern  progress,  "You  are  misrepresenting  Catholic 
Christianity.  I^owhere  does  the  Catholic  Church  teach 
that  there  are  three  Gods.  She  teaches,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  there  is  but  one  God,  and  that  there  cannot  by 
any  possibility  be  more  Gods  than  one.  The  very  idea 
of  God  involves  a  Being  infinitely  perfect,  and  supreme 


58      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

Lord  and  Master  of  all  things,  and  therefore  necessarily 
excludes  another  being  equal  to  Himself  in  these  Divine 
perfections.  He  would  probably  shrug  his  shoulders,  and 
say,  with  the  flippant  tone  of  our  fashionable  Agnostics, 
"  Have  it  your  own  way — you  may  of  course  be  right,  but 
the  fact  is  we  can  know  nothing  about  the  '  unknowable.' 
And  if  there  really  exists  such  a  Being  as  you  describe, 
one  of  the  clearest  arguments  against  His  perfections 
would  be  His  asking  reasonable  beings  to  believe  what 
they  do  not  understand." 

Let  us  briefly  examine  this  argument — God  has  no 
right  to  require  of  us  to  believe  incomprehensible 
mysteries. 

My  readers  may  not  fear  that  I  am  attempting  to  lead 
them  into  abstract,  learned,  metaphysical  reasoning  on 
the  point.  What  I  have  to  say  will  be  very  briefly  put, 
and  will  appeal  rather  to  common-sense  than  to  profound 
learning.  I  know  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  on  my 
part  to  stuff  this  book,  meant  for  the  general  public,  with 
the  dry  elements  of  scholastic  teaching.  I  want  the  public 
to  read  what  I  have  written,  and  to  think  a  little  as  they 
read  on.  I  can  scarcely  hope  that  the  majority  of  readers 
will  do  more  than  this.  Serious  reflection  on  anything 
that  does  not  fall  under  the  scope  of  sense  would  be  a 
marvel  in  the  busy  world  "  of  facts  and  figures."  Let  us 
then  ask  ourselves  the  simple  question.  Has  our  Creator 
a  right  to  require  us  to  believe  the  incomprehensible 
information  He  has  given  us  about  the  Divine  nature  ? 
Is  it  fair  to  ask  us  to  receive  into  our  finite  minds  what 
is  beyond  our  powers  of  mental  conception?  What  is 
the  use  of  this  knowledge  which  we  can  never  apply  to 
any  practical  purposes?  Is  a  religion  that  proposes 
mysteries  to  the  belief  of  its  adherents  a  sensible  religion, 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      59 

or  a  religion  such  as  a  man  of  sound,  practical,  common- 
sense  should  accept  ? 

Instead  of  one  question  I  have  put  several ;  but  they 
all  help  to  bring  out  the  Rationalistic  notion — ^What  in 
the  name  of  common-sense  have  reasonable  beings  to  do 
with  what  is  beyond  the  reach  of  reason  ?  l^ow  in  reply 
to  all  these  matter-of-fact  questions,  I  say,  It  is  quite 
clear  that,  though  we  may  from  the  visible  creation  rise 
to  the  conception  of  the  existence  of  a  supreme  neces- 
sarily existing  Being,  and  that  this  Being  must  be  en- 
dowed with  infinite  perfections,  we  can  know  nothing 
adequately  of  the  nature  of  this  Being  except  what  He' 
condescends  to  tell  us  about  Himself.  We  may,  by  the 
study  of  His  works,  be  brought  to  bow  down  and  adore 
His  infinite  power  and  wisdom  and  goodness.  But,  if  I 
wish  to  penetrate  farther  into  the  perfections  of  this 
great  Being,  I  plunge  into  a  fathomless  abyss,  a  mighty, 
boundless  ocean,  in  which  the  finite  mind  wanders  hope- 
lessly and  is  lost.  If  God,  taking  pity  on  our  mental 
weakness,  is  pleased  to  enlighten  us  by  a  supernatural 
light,  if  He  condescends  to  give  us  a  glimpse  of  His  real 
nature,  ought  we  not  to  accept  \vith  gratitude  the  Divine 
light  which  is  shed  upon  us,  and  reverently  venerate  and 
adore  the  sacred  shadows  which  this  light  reflects? 
Christians  believe  that  God  has  actually  given  us  this 
Revelation  of  Himself.  Catholic  Christianity  maintains 
that  this  Revelation,  partly  written,  partly  given  by  word 
of  mouth  through  our  Divine  Redeemer,  has  been 
intrusted  to  the  Church's  teaching  till  the  end  of  time ; 
and  that  the  teaching  Church  is  helped  and  enlightened 
in  preserving  and  explaining  this  Revelation  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  constantly  abiding  with  her.  In  this  way  Catholic 
Christians  know  with  certainty  what  God  has  taught ; 


60     'CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

they  know  beyond  doubt  whether  a  plain,  intelligible 
fact  or  truth  is  proposed  to  them,  or  whether  they  are 
called  on  by  Divine  authority  to  accept  and  believe  a 
mystery. 

When  Eationalists  assail  the  Christian  mysteries  they 
do  not  as  a  rule  keep  this  point  clearly  before  them. 
Their  arguments  are  mainly  directed  against  Bible  Chris 
tianity ;  and  there,  Jt  must  be  confessed,  they  are  emi- 
nently successful.  If  there  is  no  infallible  authority  to 
assure  us  by  its  living,  speaking  voice  that  the  truth 
proposed  for  belief  has  been  certainly  revealed  by  God, 
-and  that  it  has  been  revealed  in  a  sense  which  admits  of 
only  one  interpretation,  and  that  in  this  interpretation  is 
involved  some  dogma  which  our  minds  cannot  grasp, 
there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  belief  in  mysteries. 

The  fact  that,  Bible  Christianity  cannot  fairly  and 
logically  insist  on  belief  in  mysteries  is  clearly  shown  by 
the  constantly  growing  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
adherents  of  this  form  of  Christianity  to  do  away  with 
all  mysteries,  to  abolish  the  Athanasian  Creed,  and  to 
explain  everything  of  a  mysterious  character  as  merely 
figurative  and  symbolical  language.  !Now,  taking  our 
stand  on  this  solid  rock  of  Catholic  Christianity,  we 
Catholics  argue  thus:  1st.  Do  any  truths  incompre- 
hensible to  man  exist  ?  2d.  Has  God  a  l^ight  to  require 
that  man  should  believe  truths  which  he  does  not  com- 
prehend ?  We  can  afterward  demonstrate  the  practical 
value  of  such  truths. 

With  regard  to  the  first  point,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  we  all  believe  in  truths  which  we  do  not  compre- 
hend. As  the  celebrated  Abbe  McCarthy  puts  this  point 
in  the  clearest  light,  I  quote  his  eloquent  words :  "  On 
whatever  side  you  turn  your  eyes,  whether  you  ^x  them 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      61 

upon  yourself  or  upon  the  objects  whicli  surround  you, 
whether  you  turn  them  to  the  heavens  above  or  cast 
them  down  to  the  earth  upon  which  you  tread,  do  you 
not  everywhere  encounter  hmits  to  retard  you,  or  depths 
and  obscurities  to  confound  you?  In  the  first  place, 
you  find  them  within  yourself.  What  is  that  substance 
which  constitutes  the  principle  of  volition,  of  thought,  of 
deUberation  and  action  within  you,  the  source  of  sensa- 
tion, of  motion,  and  life — in  a  word,  your  soul  ?  ^N^othing 
is  more  present,  notliing  more  interwoven  with  your  ex- 
istence. It  is,  as  it  were,  the  groundwork  of  your  being ; 
it  is  your  very  self.  What  is  this  substance  ?  Endeavor 
to  grasp  it  within  your  thoughts,  to  examine  it,  to  analyze 
it — you  cannot.  There  is  no  fact  which  you  feel  so  in- 
timately, as  that  you  live.     But  what  is  your  life  ?" 

It  is  well  known  that  the  vital  principle  in  all  crea- 
tures, as  well  as  in  man,  is  the  very  point  where  the 
most  scientific  analysis  of  being  is  checked.  We  may 
talk  about  protoplasm  and  cells  and  molecules,  and 
build  up  the  creature  according  to  oar  fancy ;  but  what  is 
that  Hfe  which  sets  the  minute  organization  in  motion, 
and  the  loss  of  which  in  a  moment  reduces  the  most 
elaborate  mechanism  to  decomposition  and  ruin?  We 
know  not ;  it  is  all  a  mystery.  No  one  doubts,  while  he 
is  in  active  health,  that  he  has  absolute  power  over  his 
limbs,  but  who  understands  the  manner  in  which  this 
power  of  thought  and  will  is  exercised  ?  Men  may,  by 
patient  study,  bring  out  before  them  the  elaborate  struc- 
ture of  the  organs  of  sense ;  they  see  how  admirably  the 
eye  is  adapted  for  seeing  and  the  ear  for  hearing ;  but 
who  will  teU  us  the  shape  or  color  or  form  of  the  im- 
material substance  that  receives  the  impressions  of  sight 
or  sound,  or  how  the  image  painted  on  the  retina  is  con- 


62     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

veyed  to  the  spiritual  substance  which,  from  the  very 
nature  of  its  operations,  must  be  without  parts ;  not  pre- 
senting in  its  simple  nature  one  point  of  contrast  with 
the  material  image  that  a£ects  it. 

It  is  needless  to  pile  up  the  argument  with  illustrations 
from  outside.  Take  the  most  ordinary  phenomena  of 
nature — ^the  growth  of  a  blade  of  grass,  the  sprouting  of 
a  grain  of  corn.  You  may  with  the  microscope  watch 
these  operations  in  the  very  first  instant  of  their  external 
action.  You  can  see,  as  any  amateur  familiar  with  the 
use  of  the  instrument  understands,  the  action  of  fertiliza- 
tion in  the  common  duck-weed,  or  any  other  species  of 
the  Lemna  that  grow  in  our  pools  or  ditches. 

But  what  is  it  that  in  the  first  instant  of  this  apparent 
life  has  quickened  the  seemingly  lifeless  sphere  into 
activity  ?  'No  one  can  tell.  It  is  a  mystery  to  the  most 
experienced  savant  as  to  the  ignorant  rustic.  The  pro- 
found ignorance  of  man  who,  in  the  exaltation  of  his 
pride,  when  he  chances  to  stumble  over  some  new 
isolated  fact  in  the  physical  world,  fancies  he  knows 
everything,  is  well  expressed  in  the  words  of  Ecclesiastes : 
"  And  I  understood  that  man  can  find  no  reason  of  all 
these  works  of  God  that  are  done  under  the  sun :  and 
the  more  he  shall  labor  to  seek,  so  much  the  less  shall  he 
find :  yea,  though  the  wise  man  should  say  that  he 
knoweth  it,  he  shall  not  be  able  to  find  it"  (Ecclesiastes 
viii.  lY). 

There  is  not  a  single  truth,  even  in  the  natural  and 
physical  order,  which  is  not  incomprehensible  in  some 
respect  or  other.  Even  in  that  science  which  may  be 
said  to  be  the  growth  of  man's  own  thought,  pure 
mathematics,  there  are  mysteries  where  the  keenest 
mind  must  stop  and  declare  that  it  has  reached  a  limit 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      63 

wHch  it  cannot  pass.  How  ridiculous,  is  it  not,  before 
the  face  of  these  clouds  and  shadows,  in  the  midst  of 
which  we  walk  in  this  material  world,  to  complain  that 
religion  should  ask  us  to  believe  incomprehensible  truths 
regarding  the  Infinite  God  and  "the  depths  of  His 
knowledge  and  wisdom  "  ? 

How  many  a  poor  ignorant  scoffer  at  revealed  religion 
and  its  mysteries,  who  boasts  that  he  is  a  man  of  com- 
mon practical  sense,  who  believes  nothing  but  what  he 
sees,  is  altogether  ignorant  that  there  is  not  an  hour  of 
his  waking  life  in  which  he  is  not  virtually  giving  the  lie 
to  this  Free-thinking  theory !  If  he  did  not  believe,  on 
the  testimony  of  others,  the  ordinary  natural  phenomena 
.with  which  his  life  is  intimately  blended,  and  of  the  true 
nature  of  which  he  knows  as  little  as  a  child,  he  should 
miserably  perish.  He  scarcely  knows  the  first  rudiments 
of  common  physiology — how  his  body  is  nourished,  and 
what  are  the  constituents  of  his  food,  and  how  his  blood 
circulates.  If  he  waited  first  of  all  to  understand  all 
these  complicated  arrangements,  and  their  causes  and 
effects,  before  he  attended  to  his  bodily  wants,  in  case  he 
did  not  die  of  hunger,  he  would  soon  be  eminently  quali- 
fied for  a  lunatic  asylum.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  then, 
that  incomprehensible  truths  exist.  Let  us  now  see  if 
God  has  not  a  perfect  right  to  ask  us  to  believe  truths 
about  Himself  which  we  do  not  comprehend. 

I  have  already  shown  that  it  was  to  be  expected,  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  that  if  God  actually  con- 
descended to  tell  us  some  of  the  secrets  of  His  being, 
these  secrets,  quite  beyond  the  reach  of  our  finite  grop- 
ings,  should  necessarily  be  incomprehensible — that  is, 
above  the  powers  of  our  mind  to  understand  them,  but 
not  in  any  way  opposed  to  the  natural  lights  of  our  reason. 


64     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS  MYSTERIES. 

The  chief  argument  of  the  Eationalists  on  this  point 
is :  "  God  is  a  God  of  light.  He  is  Omniscient.  Whatever 
emanates  from  Him  should  be  clear,  luminous,  and  in- 
telligible. In  proportion  as  the  intellect  of  man  is  clear 
and  well  developed,  so  are  his  teachings  on  the  subject  of 
his  studies.  While  the  vain  pedant  mystifies  his  audi- 
ence with  bits  and  scraps  of  sensational  information, 
illogically  put  together  and  out  of  order,  full  of  contra- 
dictions and  extravagances,  the  really  learned  man  can 
adapt  himself  to  the  capacity  of  children.  Should  it  not 
be  so  eminently  when  God  speaks  to  us  ?  Ought  not  all 
His  teachings  to  be  luminous  as  the  sun  itself  f ' 

I  thought  it  well  to  give  this  argument  the  full  force 
with  which  it  appeals  to  the  judgment  of  the  unthinking 
multitude.  But  how  very  silly  is  its  sophistry !  I  have 
already  shown  that  nature,  science,  and  every  grand 
truth  connected  with  our  existence  in  this  world,  are  full 
of  mysteries,  surrounded  by  shadows  which  our  intellect 
cannot  penetrate.  And  from  whom  do  all  these  emanate  ? 
Is  it  not  from  the  great  first  and  supreme  Cause  of  all  that 
exists  ?     Is  it  not  from  this  omniscient,  luminous  God  ? 

If  men,  by  careful  study  and  preparation,  are  able  in 
proportion  to  their  learning  and  industry  and  care,  to 
adapt  themselves  to  the  intelligence  of  their  audience,  to 
make  what  is  clear  to  themselves  clear  to  others  also ;  if 
they  can  teach  others  to  understand  whatever  is  in- 
telligible, and  quite  within  the  scope  of  the  ordinary 
perception  of  individuals — does  it  follow  that  when  the 
Omniscient  God  deigns  to  draw  aside  a  little  the  veil  that 
hides  His  Infinite  nature  from  our  sight,  the  super- 
natural light  should  not  dazzle  and  bewilder  us  ?  Must 
God  give  us  lights  equal  to  His  own  ?  If  He  lifts  the 
veil  a  little  for  our  good,  and  to  let  us  know  something 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND  ITS   MYSTERIES.      65 

about  Himself  that  will  make  us  love  Him  with  a  more 
reverential  love,  fear  His  justice,  and  adore  His  sanctity, 
as  we  are  thus  attracted  to  Him  by  the  clearer  know- 
ledge of  His  goodness  and  patience  and  infinite  mercy, 
is  He  bound  to  display  all  His  infinite  perfections  to 
gratify  our  pride  ? 

Pressed  in  this  way,  the  objectors  will  reply :  "  If  o,  no. 
"We  must  admit  that  the  finite  cannot  take  into  itself  the 
Infinite ;  as  well  might  we  hope  to  hold  the  vast  ocean  in 
the  hollow  of  our  hand.  But  God  cannot  oblige  us  to 
believe  what  we  cannot  understand.  This  would  be  to 
require  the  sacrifice  of  our  reason,  and  that  would  be  in 
the  last  degree  absurd  !" 

It  is  easy  to  pierce  through  the  flimsy  covering  of  this 
specious  reasoning.  But  that  the  age  is  eminently  an 
unreasoning  one,  the  prophets  and  leaders  of  modern 
Free-thought  would  not  dare  so  impudently  to  abuse 
the  public  confidence.  The  men  who  reason  thus  will 
require  their  children  to  receive  their  teaching  on  mat- 
ters that  are  perfectly  incomprehensible  to  them.  They 
will  require  the  ignorant,  on  the  authority  of  the  learned, 
to  believe  things  which  seem  contrary  to  the  evidence  of 
sense — to  believe,  for  instance,  that  this  earth  constantly 
revolves  with  wonderful  velocity ;  that  the  sun,  which 
seems  to  their  untrained  eyes  to  rise  and  set,  is  stationary. 
They  will  require  the  blind  man  to  believe  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  light.  In  this  they  are  acting  quite  conform- 
ably to  right  reason  and  common-sense.  And  they  go 
farther  still,  they  will  dogmatize  on  the  exaggeration  of 
these  sound  principles,  and  grow  mad  with  passion  if 
their  pet  theories  and  systems  of  evolution  or  spontaneous 
generation  are  called  into  question.  "  Why,"  they  say, 
"  should  the  ignorant  herd  who  have  never  gone  fully 


66      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

into  these  subjects,  dare  to  doubt  our  superior  knowledge, 
and  the  accuracy  of  that  process  of  induction  which  has 
led  us  from  fact  to  fact,  till  we  have  reached  that  height 
whence,  like  gods,  we  can  with  a  glance  take  in  the  vast 
field  stretched  out  before  us,  create  system  upon  sys- 
tem, and  pronounce  it  all  '  to  be  very  good,'  and  satisfac- 
tory to  ourselves  and  the  whole  world." 

But  I  reply,  How  can  they  consistently  require  this 
acceptance  of  their  teaching  and  entire  submission  to 
their  authority,  when  they  deny  that  men  ought  to  ex- 
hibit the  same  deference  and  the  same  docihty  to  the 
sovereign  and  infallible  intelligence  of  God  ? 

I  will  conclude  the  argument  with  the  eloquent  words 
of  the  illustrious  preacher  already  quoted.  He  is  address- 
ing Rationalists  on  this  very  point.  "  When  you  refuse 
to  admit  that  in  science  and  enlightenment  the  Infinite 
Being  has  a  far  greater  superiority  over  any  mortal,  even 
the  most  enlightened,  than  the  full-grown  man  possesses 
over  the  child,  or  the  man  who  sees  over  the  blind  man, 
or  the  philosopher  over  the  ignorant  man,  I  must  con- 
fess that  your  blindness  and  your  inconsistency  seem  to 
me  the  greatest  of  all  mysteries ;  and  if  this  be  what  you 
dignify  with  the  appellation  of  philosophy  and  wisdom, 
it  is  what  I  term  not  only  inexcusable  audacity  and 
impiety,  but  incomprehensible  stupidity  and  folly." 

The  only  question  that  can  reasonably  be  urged  is  this  : 
Has  God  spoken?  Do  we  know,  can  we  know,  with 
certainty  what  He  has  revealed  ?  Is  there  no  chance  that 
we  may  be  deceived,  either  concerning  the  fact  of  the 
Divine  message,  or  the  incomprehensible  mystery  that 
this  message  sets  before  us?  If  the  revelation  comes 
from  Him  it  must  be  true,  whatever  may  be  the  difficul- 
ties or  obscurities  which  it  may  present  to  us.     All  our 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      67 

arguments  to  the  contrary  are  as  senseless  as  the  argu- 
aienl  of  a  blind  man  against  colors,  or  those  of  a  deaf 
man  against  sound  and  speech. 

How  absurd  then,  is  the  whole  of  this  reasoning  of 
Free-thought.  Why  will  it  not  fix  on  what  is  fairly 
withm  its  province  and  argue  upon  the  question  of  fact, 
Has  God  really  made  a  Revelation  ?  But  this  would  re- 
quire time  and  trouble  and  serious  thought ;  and  so  the 
leaders  of  modern  Free-thought,  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  practical  inductive  philosophy  so  much  applauded 
by  them,  talk  of  the  "  unknowable,"  shrug  their  shoul- 
ders, and  say — "  This  Religion  cannot  be  true,  because 
it  teaches  things  that  are  beyond  our  comprehension." 
In  all  other  matters  of  learned  inquiry  the  mode  of  pro- 
cedure is  quite  the  opposite  of  this. 

I  quite  agree  with  the  system  of  inductive  philosophy, 
now  so  much  in  vogue,  as  regards  physical  science,  and 
also  to  a  certain  extent  as  regards  revealed  Rehgion.  By 
all  means  let  us  have  facts  before  we  theorize  or  specu- 
late. The  facts  collected  by  Darwin  are  unquestionably 
of  immense  value  to  the  scientific  world  ;  so  are  the  facts 
fairly  tested  and  demonstrated  by  Huxley. 

Every  one  knows  what  in  these  days  would  be  called 
the  "  sell"  of  the  merry  monarch.  "Why,"  said  Charles 
to  his  learned  courtiers,  "  does  a  dead  fish  out  of  water 
weigh  heavier  than  a  living  fish  in  water  ?"  There  was 
any  amount  of  theorizing  over  the  assumed  fact,  till  a 
shrewd  philosopher  raised  the  point,  Is  it  positively  a 
fact  that  the  dead  fish  weighs  heavier  ?  He  showed  by 
actual  experiment  that  there  was  no  such  fact  on  which 
to  speculate,  and  so  solved  the  humorous  riddle. 

Now,  in  the  matter  of  Revelation,  there  are  certain  facts 
to  be  established ;  and,  thanks  to  the  labors  of  learned 


68      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

Christians  of  all  denominations,  the  great  fact  that  there 
has  been  a  Eevelation  is  demonstrated  beyond  possibility  of 
doubt.  I  have  in  the  diocesan  library  here  a  valuable  work 
in  seventeen  quarto  volumes,  collected  from  the  works  of 
over  one  hundred  most  distinguished  writers  on  the  subject. 
It  is  called  Demonstrations  tlvangeliques  and  includes 
extracts  from  the  learned  Fathers  of  the  Church,  from  the 
celebrated  French  and  English  historians,  theologians 
and  preachers,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  infidel  as 
well  as  believers.  When  I  say  that  the  names  of  Bacon, 
Grotius,  Descartes,  Pascal,  Boyle,  Locke,  Leibnitz,  Bayle, 
Tillotson,  Jean  Jacques  Kousseau,  Leharpe,  Poynter, 
Paley,  Buckland,  etc.,  figure  amongst  them,  an  idea  may 
be  formed  of  the  vast  accumulation  of  evidence  which 
the  learned  Abbe  Migne,  the  editor  of  the  work,  has 
brought  to  bear  on  the  sensible  and  striking  facts  demon- 
strating the  truth  of  revealed  Eeligion.  Prophecies  and 
their  fulfilment,  miracles,  the  testimony  of  so  many  thou- 
sand martyrs,  the  conversion  of  the  whole  civilized 
world,  the  preservation  of  the  Church,  summed  up  in 
the  eloquent  passage  of  Macaulay  on  "  The  Everlasting 
Church,"  offer  ample  scope  for  the  keen  scrutiny  of  Free- 
thinkers. 

But  this  accumulation  of  evidence  alarms  them,  and 
80,  departing  from  the  sound  principles  of  inductive  rea- 
soning, they  rush  into  the  boundless  and  obscure  field  of 
doctrine,  and  involve  themselves  in  stupid  arguments,  re- 
garding the  possibility  or  probability  of  matters  which 
are  altogether  beyond  the  reach  of  their  reasoning  powers. 
Facts  are  disregarded,  although  they  are  the  only  acces- 
sible and  palpable  part  of  it,  in  order  that,  behind  the 
leaden  barrier  of  Agnosticism,  they  may  amuse  themselves 
with  caricaturing  God's  truth,  and  losing  themselves  in 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      69 

the  mazes  of  silly  speculations  and  unmeaning  evasions 
and  distortions  of  the  sacred  Word  of  God. 

When  I  read  that  thousands  of  intelligent  people  in 
America  attend  the  lectures  of  Ingersoll,  and  applaud  the 
fun  and  humor  that  would  have  no  enlivening  point  but 
because  it  is  directed  to  subjects  that  were  once  venerable 
and  sacred  in  their  eyes,  I  am  confirmed  in  the  profound 
conviction  which  has  forced  itself  on  my  mind,  that  the 
bhghting  curse  of  the  age,  which  threatens  all  social  order 
and  real  progress,  is  this  flippancy  and  silly  love  of  variety 
and  change  and  piquancy,  that  the  luxury  and  the  love  of 
wealth  has  made  necessary  to  relieve  the  monotony  of 
material  enjoyment. 

I  saw  a  picture,  some  years  ago,  in  the  gallery  of  the 
Louvre  reserved  for  modern  artists.  It  presented  a  view 
of  the  state  of  society  in  the  luxurious  days  of  the  effete 
Roman  empire.  It  is  before  my  mental  vision  now — not 
gross  and  revolting  to  Christian  eyes,  but  telling  its  tale 
of  desolation  in  the  dress  and  attitudes  and  expression  of 
a  set  of  Bacchanalian  revellers  tired  of  enjoyment  and 
weary  of  life.  It  seemed  as  if  the  ordinary  gratifications 
of  sensuality  had  become  repulsive  to  them  from  satiety, 
and  that  they  had  neither  hope  nor  spirit  even  to  dream 
of  new  pleasures. 

We  have  not  yet  come  to  this  pass,  but  any  one  who 
thinks  seriously  may  mark  the  unmistakable  signs  of  its 
near  approach,  in  the  perverted  literature  of  these  evil 
days,  in  the  degradation  of  the  stage,  in  the  decline  of 
classic  art  in  music  and  painting,  in  the  indifference  to 
anything  that  can  raise  the  soul  above  the  earthly  things  of 
earth.  We  may  note  it  too  in  the  dress  and  fashions  of 
the  time,  concentrated  on  low  and  depraved  tastes  that 
seem  to  ape  the  sensualism  of  our  African  savagery. 


70      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

There  are  unmistakable  signs  of  the  ntter  hollowness 
and  want  of  solid  Catholic  Christianity  in  the  masses  of 
nations  that  once  were  thoroughly  Christian,  in  their 
habits  and  modes  of  thought.  A  generation  or  two 
hence,  if  the  lotus-eaters,  who  are  insensibly  and  lazily 
drifting  down  the  stream  of  dreamland,  yield  themselves 
entirely  to  this  seductive  influence,  that  stupor  may  come 
on  the  world  which  invariably  precedes  the  upheaving  of 
anarchical  revolution. 

The  languid  Romans  of  the  declining  days  of  the 
Empire  could  scarcely  rouse  themselves  to  the  realization 
of  the  terrible  fact  that  the  tide  of  savage  barbarism  was 
at  their  gates,  when  they  were  swept  away  helplessly  in 
the  mighty  deluge.  The  voluptuous  courtiers  of  the  age 
of  Louis  XY.  mocked  and  derided  the  sullen  growlings 
of  the  coming  storm,  and  so  miserably  perished. 

It  may  be  said  that  in  this  nineteenth  century  we  are 
free  from  those  striking  inequalities  between  the  favored 
upper  classes  and  the  trampled-down  poor,  which  were 
among  the  chief  causes  of  the  great  Revolution.  But 
there  are  crying  evils  of  the  kind  even  now.  What  will 
happen  when  the  hitherto  uneducated  classes  come  fully 
to  understand  the  fact  that  in  Great  Britain  about  eight 
thousand  of  the  privileged  idle  class  hold  in  their  hands 
46,500,000  acres  of  the  land  of  the  nation,  and  that, 
though  these  lands  represent  a  value  of  between  three 
and  ^ve  thousand  million  pounds,  or  an  annual  value, 
for  the  three  kingdoms  of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scot- 
land, of  one  hundred  and  eight  millions  sterling,  the  taxes 
borne  by  the  privileged  few  amount  to  only  four  and  a 
half  milKons  ? 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Mr.  Kaye,  one  of  the  foremost 
political  economists  of  the  time,  has  said — "  The  classes 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND  ITS   MYSTERIES.     71 

who  are  deprived  of  the  natural  means  of  improving  their 
social  condition,  will  rise  more  and  more  fiercely  against 
the  obstacles  that  beset  them,  the  more  clearly  they  per- 
ceive these  obstacles.  If  it  is  necessary  or  expedient  that 
the  present  landed  system  should  be  continued,  it  would 
be  wiser  to  get  rid  of  every  school  in  the  country.  To 
give  the  people  intelhgence  and  yet  to  tie  their  hands,  is 
more  dangerous  than  to  give  fire  to  a  madman." 

Some  years  ago  Mr.  Fawcett  wrote :  "  Production  has 
increased  quite  beyond  the  most  sanguine  hopes,  and  yet 
the  day  when  the  workman  shall  obtain  a  larger  share  of 
the  increase  seems  as  far  distant  as  ever;  and  in  his 
miserable  abode  the  struggle  against  want  and  misery  is 
as  hard  as  ever  it  was.  The  result  of  this  is  to  create  a 
profound  hostility  to  the  fundamental  principles  upon 
which  society  is  based."  Well  has  a  distinguished  writer 
portrayed  in  a  few  pithy  words  the  economy  of  social 
life  at  the  present  time  :  "  It  is  a  philosophy  of  despair, 
resting  upon  an  arithmetic  of  ruin." 

It  is  very  easy  for  those  who  ought  to  preserve  them- 
selves from  the  laissez-aller  disposition  of  this  frivolous 
age,  to  say,  as  did  the  French  noblesse  on  the  eve  of  the 
cataclysm,  "  Apres  nous  le  delugey  But  statesmen 
should  ponder  in  time  on  the  signs  of  the  growing  whirl- 
wind of  conviction  that  is  rising  in  the  public  mind,  and 
open  their  eyes  to  the  proximate  dangers  which  Free- 
thought,  education  without  God,  and  the  other  liberal 
views,  so  fashionable  now,  are  rapidly  generating.  Let 
any  unexpected  cause  relax  the  firm  arm  of  physical 
force,  and  who  can  form  an  idea  of  the  immensity  of  the 
desolation  that  is  even  now  threatening  the  social 
fabric ! 

I  had  almost  forgotten  to  point  out  the  use  and  value 


72      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

of  incomprehensible  truths  of  Eevelation.  The  thoughts 
to  which  I  have  just  given  expression  suggest  them. 

Mysteries  in  Keligion  check  the  evil  of  pride — the 
source  of  all  the  miseries  of  our  fallen  race ;  they  clearly 
indicate  to  man  that  there  are  limits  to  his  curiosity. 
"  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther,"  is  the  plain 
lesson  of  every  mystery.  And,  vrhile  they  check  our 
pride,  they  irresistibly  transport  our  thoughts  to  another 
life,  where  all  that  is  mysterious  now,  will  form  in  its 
ample  development  and  in  the  unbounded  prospect  it 
will  open  to  the  emancipated  soul,  the  infinite  source  of 
joys  without  end,  ever  varying  and  ever  delightful. 
Were  our  thoughts  of  future  bliss  confined  to  visions  of 
earthly  pleasure,  we  might  picture  to  ourselves  the 
satiety  of  happiness.  We  know  that  the  sweetest  music 
will  weary  with  monotony,  and  in  time,  if  continued, 
become  a  real  torture  ;  a  bed  of  roses  will  soon  lose  its 
fragrance.  Such  thoughts  help  us  to  realize  to  ourselves 
the  force  of  that  objection  of  Rationalism  conveyed  in 
the  "  damp  clouds"  and  "  give  him  a  harp"  of  IngersoU. 
But  when,  in  connection  with  the  incomprehensible 
mysteries  of  Religion,  we  know  that  delights  are  in  store 
for  us  hereafter,  of  which  in  the  flesh  we  can  have  no 
conception,  we  are  helped  to  feel  the  force  of  the  con- 
soling words  of  the  Apostle — "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor 
ear  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  men, 
what  things  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  Him" 
(1  Cor.  ii.  9). 

If  now  we  view  Catholic  Christianity  in  its  mysteries, 
how  beautiful,  how  consoling!  How  far  beyond  any 
ideal  of  the  human  imagination  is  the  view  with  which 
it  gladdens  us !  There  is  no  question  of  dreams  or 
fancies,  but  "  the  evidence  of  things  that  appear  not." 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      73 

The  soul  seems  to  expand  with  the  vastness  of  the  pros- 
pect presented  to  it.  It  sees  "dimly"  of  course,  and 
"  as  it  were  through  a  glass,"  the  happy  state  "  prepared 
for  it  from  the  beginning  of  the  world."  God  Himself, 
the  centre  of  all  things  desirable,  who  alone  can  satisfy 
the  longings  of  the  heart,  will  be  "  its  reward  exceeding 
great." 

There  is  something  in  the  very  fact  that  it  cannot  con- 
ceive the  immensity  of  the  Divine  perfections,  that  fills 
it  with  a  foretaste  of  bliss.  If  the  joys  we  hope  for  in 
the  better  land  were  clearly  defined,  though  they  might 
gleam  aod  glisten  with  the  brightest  flashes  of  human 
eloquence,  and  appear  before  us  adorned  with  all  the 
flowers  and  graceful  imagery  of  the  poet,  we  would  soon 
learn  to  strip  them  of  these  adventitious  charms,  and 
viewing  them  in  their  naked  poverty  and  emptiness,  come 
to  despise  them  as  the  perishable  and  unsatisfactory  joys 
of  earth.  Who  would  care  "  to  fight  the  good  fight,"  to 
battle  bravely  with  the  world,  the  demon,  and  the  flesh, 
to  take  up  the  cross  daily  and  follow  after  Christ,  if  the 
crown  prepared  for  him  hereafter  were  one  such  as  we 
might  covet  in  this  world — a  gilded  toy  to  amuse  the 
eye  for  a  season,  but  dim,  tarnished,  and  worthless  under 
the  first  breath  of  eternity. 

Mahommedans,  whose  souls  have  never  been  invigorated 
with  the  pure  atmosphere  of  a  Heaven,  "  where  nothing 
defiled  can  enter,"  may  sacrifice  life  and  the  fleeting  joys 
of  earthly  pleasure  for  an  eternity  of  sensual  repose. 
But  the  Christian,  who  has  learned  to  fix  his  affections  on 
the  all-holy  and  perfect  treasure  prepared  for  him  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  must  ever  spurn  with  contempt  plea- 
sures and  delights  that  derive  their  charm  from  any- 
thing that  is  of  the  earth,  earthly. 


74      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS    MYSTERIES. 

It  is  only  when  we  associate  bliss  hereafter  with  the 
purest  intellectual  satisfaction  we  can  conceive,  that  the 
soul  seems  lifted  above  the  weaknesses  of  the  frail  body, 
and  impelled  to  do  and  dare  great  things  for  the  posses- 
sion of  that  unbounded  knowledge  to  be  found  in  God. 
Rehgion  may  set  this  glorious  prize  before  us,  but  no 
revelation  that  our  souls  can  bear  in  this  prison  of  the 
flesh,  could  possibly  afford  us  more  than  a  faint  gleam  of 
the  exquisite  delight  with  which  we  shall  be  inebriated 
when,  seeing  God  "  face  to  face,"  we  shall  behold  "  the 
secret  things"  of  all  knowledge  in  the  brightness  of  His 
glory. 

"  'No  man  can  see  God  and  live ;"  and  so,  whatever 
God  tells  us  of  His  own  nature  and  perfections,  and  the 
future  prepared  for  those  who  love  Him,  must  be  tem- 
pered and  toned  down  to  suit  our  finite  perceptions ; 
and  we  must  be  not  only  content  but  grateful  that  He 
has  only  dimly  revealed  these  incomprehensible  mys- 
teries. Here  we  are  as  children,  speaking  of  things  we 
do  not  understand,  lisping  as  it  were  the  language  of 
Heaven,  but  reminded  constantly  by  these  unintelligible 
accents  of  our  true  country,  towards  which  during  life 
we  were  always  hastening. 

When  Rationalists  say  that  our  mysteries  are  not  only 
incomprehensible,  but  actually  contradictory  to  reason, 
absurd,  and  ridiculous,  they  go  rather  too  far  for  the 
common-sense  of  their  hearers.  They  imitate  those 
fanatical  Christians  who  fancy  they  are  demonstrating 
the  truth  of  their  religious  views  by  overwhelming  the 
old  Church  with  a  heap  of  the  vilest  names  they  can  put 
together.  The  greater  the  heap  and  the  more  high- 
sounding  the  vituperations  the  better — "idolatrous," 
"  blasphemous,"  "  monstrous,"  "  diabolical,"   "  absurd," 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      75 

and  "ridiculous."  This  class  of  reasoners,  whether 
Christian  or  non-Christian,  forget  an  axiom  which,  if 
not  known  in  precise  terms  by  the  general  public,  is 
well  understood  :  "  Qiood  nimis  probata  nihil  jprobat^'^ — 
"  What  proves  too  much,  proves  nothing."  If  the  mys- 
teries of  revealed  Eeligion  are  absurd  and  contradictory, 
then  all  the  great  and  learned  men  who  for  the  last 
eighteen  hundred  years  have  adorned  the  Christian  name 
by  their  talents,  and  genius,  and  profound  wisdom,  were 
simply  besotted  idiots.  There  were  millions  and  millions 
of  such  men,  giants  of  literature,  many  of  whom  are  re- 
garded by  the  learned  of  to-day  as  the  benefactors  and 
most  distinguished  ornaments  of  humanity :  and  they 
were  Catholics,  who  heard  the  Church,  and  learned  their 
religion  from  her  lips.  The  conceited  and  impudent 
Rationalist,  who  with  jaunty  air  points  at  these  great  men 
the  finger  of  scorn,  and  calls  them  "  blind  fools,  leaders 
of  the  blind,"  is  likely  to  establish  his  own  character  for 
senseless  vanity  in  the  minds  of  a  discerning  public. 

When  the  definitions  of  the  Church  that  declare  the 
revealed  mysteries  are  read  with  ordinary  attention  there 
is  no  ground  whatever  for  the  charge  of  contradiction. 
If  some  other  form  of  expression,  that  has  its  origin  in 
stupid  ignorance  or  ingenious  malice,  is  attributed  to  the 
Church,  and  the  true  doctrine  is  misrepresented,  all  the 
specious  reasoning  of  her  adversaries  is  directed,  not 
against  the  dogma,  but  against  a  mere  misapprehension 
or  distortion  of  the  true  doctrine. 

If  a  Rationalist  says  that  the  Church  requires  and 
forces  her  hearers  to  believe  the  palpable  absurdity,  that 
three  Gods  are  one  God,  that  three  persons  are  one  per- 
son, he  is  only  stating  what  is  absolutely  false;  and, 
though  he  may  indulge  in  sparkling  wit  and  ridicule  in 


76      CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   ITS   MYSTERIES. 

tearing  the  monstrous  proposition  to  rags,  he  is  only 
imitating  the  infuriated  ball  that  tramples  and  gores  and 
tosses  the  senseless  object  flung  in  his  face  to  deceive 
him. 

All  the  shocking  irreverence  applied  to  the  Blessed 
Eucharist,  "  The  wafer  God,"  "  The  priests'  God,"  etc., 
have  their  origin  in  the  same  culpable  ignorance  or  the 
same  malicious  misrepresentation. 

If  earnest  men,  who  pride  themselves  on  their  supe- 
riority to  blind  prejudice,  and  their  honesty  of  purpose, 
would  only  take  a  little  pains  to  know  what  Catholic 
Christianity  really  is,  if,  instead  of  learning  this  from  the 
bitter  enemies  of  the  Church,  they  went  to  the  fountain 
source,  and  disregarded  altogether  these  turbid  and  muddy 
waters,  what  a  glorious  spectacle  would  they  behold  in 
the  mysteries  proposed  by  the  Catholic  Church !  They 
would  see  then  at  a  glance  the  wonderful  unity  and 
admirable  connection  there  is  between  these  revealed 
truths,  and  that  one  almost  necessarily  grew  out  of  the 
other.  They  would  not  of  course  comprehend  how  three 
persons  really  distinct  can  exist  in  a  single  nature ;  but 
'they  would  be  helped,  by  the  study  of  their  own  unity  of 
person  in  a  twofold  nature,  to  conceive  of  the  Divine 
nature  something  infinitely  superior  and  more  incompre- 
hensible. They  would  see  at  once  that  without  this  dis- 
tinction of  persons  the  Incarnation  would  have  been 
impossible,  and  that  there  could  be  no  Atonement.  Be- 
lieving firmly  that  the  Uncreated  Word,  "  by  "Whom  all 
things  were  made,"  became  man,  that  Christ  was  as  truly 
God  as  He  was  man,  and  that  in  Him  there  is  but  one 
Person,  and  consequently  that  all  His  actions  are  those  of 
a  God  ;  that  consequently  Mary  is  the  Mother  of  God  ; 
that  the  Blessed  Eucharist  is   the   means   invented  by 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND   ITS   MYSTERIES.      77 

Almiglity  love  to  bring  home  to  every  individual  of  the 
Christian  family,  as  long  as  the  world  lasts,  the  fruits  of 
Redemption;  similarly  they  would  perceive  that  the 
Sacramental  system  almost  naturally  grew  from  the  same 
stem;  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
and  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  are  the  gradual 
unfolding  of  the  blossoms  of  Faith  on  the  Tree  of  Life. 

This  one  view  of  the  intimate  connection  and  harmony 
of  revealed  truths  would  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  fill  them 
with  reverence  and  admiration  for  that  tree  planted  by  a 
Divine  hand,  which  has  stood  the  storms  of  ages,  and  is 
now,  in  the  midst  of  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  Impiety  and 
Heresy,  as  vigorous  and  flourishing  as  in  its  palmiest 
days ;  offering,  in  its  ample  shade,  calm  and  quiet  rest  to 
the  weary  and  distracted  nations  of  the  whole  world. 


78  THE  INCARNATION,  THE  CENTRE  AND  SOUL 


-     CHAPTEE  III. 

The  Incarnation,  the  Centre  and  Soul  of  Catholic 
Christianity. 

I  HA  YE  always  felt  that  the  practical  life  of  an  ear- 
nest Catholic  must  be  of  a  supernatural  character. 
He  cannot  realize  to  himself  what  his  religion  teaches, 
without  feeling  that  he  is  moving  in  the  midst  of  spiri- 
tual influences  that  mould  and  fashion  and  determine 
every  impulse  of  his  being. 

Some  of  the  weird  traditions  of  my  native  country — 
the  stories  I  have  heard  in  earliest  years  of  the  "  good 
people,"  "  the  whispering  of  the  angels"  when  the  infant 
smiles  in  its  happy  slumbers,  the  wail  of  the  benshee,  all 
these  pretty  harmless  legends  which  live  in  the  glowing 
imagination  of  the  Irish  peasant,  are  not  after  all  stupid 
superstitions,  but  outcomes  of  revealed  truth  embalmed 
in  the  poetry  of  nature.  They  tell  of  the  fervent  piety 
of  a  people  who  in  the  ages  of  Faith  "  walked  with  God," 
when  "  the  Emerald  Isle"  was  the  only  safe  home  of  Ee~ 
ligion,  and  an  "  Island  of  Saints."  It  is  probably  this 
natural  tendency  of  the  imagination  to  rise  above  the 
stem  realities  of  material  life,  to  see  and  feel  the  kind 
Providence  of  our  Heavenly  Father  directing  the  crosses 
and  afflictions  of  cruel  suffering,  in  bad  seasons,  and  per- 
secution more  cruel  stiU,  and  the  miseries  of  poverty, 
hardly  known  in  other  lands,  that  renders  many  a  poor 
uneducated  Irish  mother,  who  knows  no  learning  but  her 
beads  and  the  rudiments  of  her  catechism,  a  perfect 


OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  79 

heroine  in  that  most  exalted  of  virtues,  the  nighest  to 
angelic  perfection — entire  sabmission  to  the  blessed  will 
of  God. 

It  is  the  same  inherent  instinct  of  a  lively  Faith,  that 
enables  them  to  ward  off  the  assaults  of  polemical  in- 
trusion, and  to  overcome  with  ready  wit  the  arguments 
of  Biblical  learning.  My  memory  teems  with  amusing 
instances  of  pharisaical  pride  brought  low,  and  sancti- 
monious cant  balked  and  baffled  by  happy  retorts  and 
flashes  of  pleasantry  that  overwhelmed  the  assailant  with 
"  the  inextinguishable  laughter"  of  an  appreciative  audi- 
ence. Humorous  as  they  are,  they  spring  from  the 
earnestness  of  religious  conviction,  and  from  the  almost 
perfect  realization  of  some  revealed  truth,  long  the  sub- 
ject of  serious  meditation. 

I  am  almost  tempted  to  set  one  or  two  anecdotes  of 
the  kind  before  my  readers,  but  I  feel  "  nunc  non  erat 
his  loGusP 

One  thing  is  quite  certain,  though  even  learned  Pro- 
testant Divines  affect  to  mourn  over  the  superstitions 
and  blank  ignorance  of  the  poor  in  Ireland,  they  might 
learn  wisdom  from  the  ingrained  and  intense  piety  de- 
veloped in  the  school  of  adversity.  Devotion  most 
tender  and  affectionate  to  the  Mother  of  the  Saviour  is 
strikingly  characteristic  of  this  piety.  The  gentle 
Virgin,  "  with  the  boy-God  upon  her  knee,"  or  Mary- 
standing  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  is  constantly  before  the 
eyes  of  the  poor  beadsman,  or  the  fixed  internal  gaze  of 
the  mother  and  her  children,  as  they  repeat  the  "  Our 
Father"  or  the  Angelical  salutation.  They  hope,  in  the 
deep  sense  of  their  own  unworthiness,  that  they  may 
pray  with  unbounded  confidence  when  their  humble 
petitions  are  offered  in  the  presence  and  with  the  ap- 


80     THE  INCARNATION,   THE   CENTRE  AND   SOUL 

proval  and  recommendation  of  the  Holy  Mother  of 
God. 

It  is  a  remarkable  thing  that  in  this  land  of  the  old 
Faith  the  Catholics  of  high  and  low  degree  never  salute 
Mar  J,  as  they  do  in  England  and  other  lands,  with  the 
title  of  "  Our  Blessed  Lady,"  but  speak  of  Her  and  to 
Her,  invariably,  as  the  "  Mother  of  God."  It  may  be 
that  our  good  Father  in  Heaven,  in  consideration  of  the 
many  trials  that  in  Ireland  beset  the  Faith  of  the  people, 
filled  their  souls  with  the  comforting  and  sustaining 
beHef  that  lies  under  this  tender  appellation,  which  com- 
prises in  itself  aU  the  riches  of  His  infinite  condescension 
and  mercy. 

The  point  suggested  by  these  thoughts  is  so  admirably 
put  by  Cardinal  ]S"ewman,  and  falls  in  so  entirely  with 
the  object  of  this  chapter,  which  means  to  show  that  the 
great  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  is  the  chief  ground  of 
Catholic  Christianity,  that  I  give  it  almost  in  extenso 
from  that  admirable  sermon,  "  The  Glories  of  Mary  for 
the  Sake  of  her  Son  :"  "  When  the  Eternal  Word  decreed 
to  come  on  earth.  He  did  not  purpose.  He  did  not  work, 
by  halves ;  but  He  came  to  be  a  man  like  any  of  us,  to 
take  a  human  soul  and  body,  and  to  make  them  His 
own.  He  did  not  come  in  a  mere  apparent  or  accidental 
form,  as  Angels  appear  to  men  ;  nor  did  He  merely  over- 
shadow an  existing  man,  as  He  overshadowed  His  Saints, 
and  call  Him  by  the  name  of  God  ;  but  He  '  was  made 
flesh.'  He  attached  to  Himself  a  manhood,  and  became 
as  really  and  truly  man  as  He  was  God,  so  that  henceforth 
He  was  both  God  and  man,  or,  in  other  words,  He  was 
one  Person  in  two  natures,  Divine  and  human.  This  is 
a  mystery  so  marvellous,  so  difficult,  that  Faith  alone 
firmly  receives  it ;  the  natural  man  may  receive  it  for 


OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  81 

a  while,  may  think  he  receives  it,  but  nevei  really  receives 
it ;  begins,  as  soon  as  he  has  professed  it,  secretly  to  rebel 
against  it,  evades  it,  or  revolts  from  it.  This  he  has  done 
from  the  first ;  even  in  the  lifetime  of  the  beloved  disciple 
men  arose,  who  said  that  our  Lord  had  no  body  at  all,  or  a 
body  framed  in  the  heavens,  or  that  He  did  not  suffer,  but 
another  suffered  in  His  stead,  or  that  He  was  but  for  a  time 
in  the  human  form  which  was  born  and  which  suffered, 
coming  on  it  at  its  baptism,  and  leaving  it  before  its  cruci- 
fixion, or  that  He  was  a  mere  man.  That '  In  the  beginning 
was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 
was  God,'  and  '  the  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among 
us,'  was  too  hard  a  thing  for  the  unregenerate  reason. 

"  The  case  is  the  same  at  this  day ;  mere  Protestants 
have  seldom  any  real  perception  of  the  doctrine  of  God 
and  man  in  one  Person.  They  speak  in  a  dreamy, 
shadowy  way  of  Christ's  divinity ;  but,  when  their  mean- 
ing is  sifted,  you  will  find  them  very  slow  to  express  the 
Catholic  dogma.  .  .  .  Now,  if  you  would  witness  against 
these  unchristian  opinions,  if  you  would  bring  out  dis- 
tinctly and  beyond  mistake  and  evasion,  the  simple  idea  of 
the  Catholic  Church  that  God  is  man,  could  you  do  it  better 
than  by  laying  down  in  St.  John's  words  that '  God  hecame 
man'  ?  and  again  could  you  express  this  more  emphati- 
cally and  unequivocally  than  by  declaring  that  He  was 
horn  a  man  or  that  He  had  a  Mother?  The  world  allows 
that  God  is  man  ;  the  admission  costs  it  little,  for  God  is 
everywhere,  and  (as  it  may  say)  is  everything ;  but  it 
shrinks  from  confessing  that  God  is  the  Son  of  Mary. 
It  shrinks,  for  it  is  at  once  confronted  with  a  severe  fact, 
which  violates  and  shatters  its  own  unbelieving  view  of 
things;  the  revealed  doctrine  forthwith  takes  its  true 
shape,  and  receives  an  historical  reality  ;  and  the  Almighty 


82  THE  INCARNATION,  THE  CENTRE  AND  SOUL 

is  introduced  into  His  own  world  at  a  certain  time  and  in 
a  definite  way.  Dreams  are  broken  and  shadows  depart ; 
tlie  Divine  trutli  is  no  longer  a  poetical  expression,  or  a 
devotional  exaggeration,  or  a  mystical  economy,  or  a 
mythical  representation.  .  .  .  By  witnessing  to  the  process 
of  the  union,  it  secures  the  reality  of  the  two  sicbjects  of 
the  union,  of  the  divinity  and  of  the  manhood.  If  Mary 
is  the  Mother  of  God,  Christ  is  understood  to  be  the 
Emmanuel,  God  with  us." 

This  passage,  which  I  have  somewhat  abridged,  seems 
to  me  to  bring  out  with  peculiar  force  and  power  the 
fundamental  mystery  of  revealed  Keligion.  Once  this 
mystery  is  believed  in  all  its  fulness,  there  can  be  no 
difficulty  in  believing  in  all  its  consequences.  The  Child 
adored  in  the  crib  at  Bethelehem  is  the  God  by  whom 
all  things  were  made.  Those  little  hands  stretched  out 
towards  the  Virgin  Mother  in  infantine  helplessness,  are 
the  hands  of  God  ;  these  eyes  dimmed  with  the  tears  of 
dawning  human  life  are  the  eyes  of  God  ;  that  voice,  as 
yet  inarticulate  and  murmuring  of  unintelligible  babyish 
sorrow,  is  the  voice  which  once  awoke  creation  into  being. 
What  is  there  that  the  great  God  has  not  given  us  in 
this  mystery?  What  gift  can  be  imagined  larger  or 
more  bountiful  on  His  part  to  fallen  man  ?  When  we 
believe,  with  all  the  assent  of  our  minds,  the  joyful 
tidings  that  He  has  thus  given  us  His  Son  to  be  our  real 
brother,  flesh  of  our  flesh  aud  bone  of  our  bone,  His 
loving  condescension  is  complete. 

It  would  be  almost  impossible,  in  the  limits  of  one  chap- 
ter, to  set  forth  the  extravagant  notions  entertained  by 
Christians  outside  the  Church,  concerning  this  great  myste- 
ry. They  all  more  or  less  converge  to  one  point — "  to  dis- 
solve Jesus  Christ,"  as  St.  John  expresses  it — "  and  every 


OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  83 

spirit  that  dissolveth  Jesus  is  not  of  God."  They  would 
by  some  figment  or  other  try  to  break  the  Hypostatic  or 
Personal  union  of  the  Divine  and  human  nature  in  our 
Divine  Redeemer.  They  picture  to  themselves  a  double 
personality  in  Jesus  Christ,  a  man-Christ  and  a  God- 
Christ — a  being  partly  man  and  partly  God.  This  is  the 
most  distinctive  character  of  the  heresies  of  the  present 
time  in  reference  to  the  Incarnation.  Christians  who 
are  not  Catholics  do  not  care  to  speak  about  this  mys- 
tery. They  affect  so  great  a  reverence  for  it,  that,  in  their 
idea,  the  union  of  God  and  man  in  the  Redeemer  is  to  be 
respected  as  was  the  word  "  Jehovah"  by  the  Jews.  If 
they  are  pressed  to  explain  what  they  believe  exactly,  it 
will  be  found  that,  if  they  commit  themselves  at  all  to 
any  distinct  formulary  of  belief,  this  belief  will  incline 
first  of  all  to  that  form  of  Appohnarism  which  supposed 
that  in  Christ  the  Divinity  took  the  place  of  a  soul ; 
and  when  it  is  pointed  out  to  them  that  this  belief 
would  necessarily  involve  the  suffering  of  the  Deity  in 
the  Divine  nature,  they  either  fall  back  on  Arianism 
pure  and  simple,  by  denying  that  Christ  is  God,  or, 
which  is  more  likely,  as  being  less  directly  in  opposition  to 
the  traditions  of  Catholic  Faith,  they  wiU  stand  as  firmly 
as  they  can  on  the  ground  that  there  was  a  man-Christ 
and  a  God-Christ,  and  that,  somehow  or  other,  the  two 
individuals  were  blended  into  one.  It  was,  they  assert, 
the  man-Christ  that  was  born  of  Mary ;  it  was  the  man- 
Christ  that  suffered  and  died  and  came  to  life  again. 

That  this  is  no  imaginary  or  fanciful  notion  of  Bible 
Christians'  belief  in  Christ  will  be  made  clear  if  the 
argument  is  pressed:  for  then  they  who  hold  this  xdew 
will  become  violently  dogmatic,  and  exclaim,  "  How  could 
God  suffer?"     "  How  could  God  die?"     "  How  by  any 


84     THE  INCARNATION,   THE   CENTRE   AND   SOUL 

possibility  could  tlie  Creator  become  the  child  of  His 
own  creature  ?"  Here  we  see  clearly,  as  Cardinal  New- 
man says,  the  Divine  maternity  of  Mary  becomes  the 
real  test  of  orthodoxy.  God  really  suffered  in  His 
human  nature.  God  really  died  in  the  same  nature. 
God  was  buried  in  the  tomb,  and  God  was  truly  the  Son 
of  Mary.  For  says  the  Athanasian  Creed,  not  yet  I  be- 
lieve abrogated  from  the  formularies  of  belief  of  all 
Bible  Christians,  "  The  right  faith  is  that  we  believe  and 
confess  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  is 
both  God  and  man,  perfect  God  and  perfect  man :  yet 
not  two  but  one  Christ — one  altogether,  not  by  the  con- 
fusion of  substance,  but  by  the  unity  of  person." 

Protestants  seldom  realize  to  themselves  what  is  in- 
volved in  "  obedience  to  the  faith" — that  to  believe  what 
God  reveals  often  requires  self-sacrifice  and  bowing 
down  in  all  simplicity  and  humility  to  the  truth  of  His 
holy  Word.  They  do  not  like  to  subject  themselves  to 
this  ordeal,  and  therefore  they  would  much  prefer  to  re- 
ceive the  mysteries  of  revealed  Keligion  without  ques- 
tioning too  particularly  what  is  the  dogma  to  which  we 
must  assent  under  pain  of  eternal  ruin,  for  "  without 
Faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God"  (Heb.  xi.  6). 

The  very  opposite  is  the  habit  and  disposition  of 
Catholics :  they  require  to  know  exactly,  without  doubt 
or  evasion,  what  mysteries  God  proposes  to  them  by  the 
voice  of  His  Church.  They  love  to  meditate  upon  these 
words  of  life,  to  analyze  them,  and  to  see  their  intimate 
connection  with  other  revealed  truths,  and  to  draw  from 
them  sound  practical  principles  for  their  guidance.  If 
Faith,  or  entire  assent  of  the  mind  without  doubt,  to 
everything  God  has  revealed,  be  essential  to  salvation,  it 
cannot  be  right  and  safe  to  follow  our  own  fancies  about 


OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  85 

these  tremendous  truths.  We  are  bound  to  know,  as  far 
as  we  can,  what  thej  mean,  and  to  be  most  careful  not  to 
put  some  notion  of  our  own  in  place  of  what  the  God  of 
all  truth  has  revealed. 

Thus  as  regards  this  primary  mystery  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, men  who  desire  to  please  God  should  say — Must  I 
believe  that  God  really  suffered  and  died  in  His  human 
nature,  and  that  Jesus  Christ,  God  the  Son  from  all 
eternity,  was  truly  the  Son  of  Mary  ?  ISTo  matter  what 
the  consequences  of  this  profession  of  Faith  may  be  on 
other  articles  of  his  creed,  he  must  not  heed  these  conse- 
quences. "  If  we  have  Faith,"  says  Cardinal  JSTewman, 
"  to  admit  the  Incarnation  itself,  we  must  admit  it  in  its 
fulness ;  why  then  should  we  start  at  the  gracious  ap- 
pointments which  arise  out  of  it,  or  are  necessary  to  it, 
or  are  included  in  it  ?" 

I  think  the  consequences  are  so  obvious,  in  one  respect 
at  least,  of  professing  true  Catholic  Faith  in  the  Incarna- 
tion, that  they  cannot  escape  the  perception  of  any  reader 
who  glances  even  hurriedly  over  these  pages.  He  will 
see  that  if  God  our  Redeemer  is  truly  the  Son  of  Mary, 
or  in  other  words  that  if  "  Mary  is  really  the  Mother  of 
God,"  the  whole  aspect  of  Protestant  thought  and  teach- 
ing as  regards  the  Virgin  Mary  is  completely  wrong. 

But  there  can  be  no  doubt  upon  this  point.  If  our 
Divine  Redeemer  were  not  perfect  man  to  suffer  and 
perfect  God  to  save,  if  the  two  natures  were  not  united 
in  the  one  Person,  united  so  intimately  in  this  firm  bond 
of  personality  that  they  can  never  for  all  eternity  be 
severed,  there  would  be  no  such  thing  as  the  Atonement, 
and  every  fragment  of  Christian  truth  would  be  dissolved, 
"  as  a  cloud  is  consumed  and  passeth  away"  (Job  vii.  9). 
See  how  clear  and  distinct  is  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic 


86     THE  INCARNATION,   THE  CENTRE   AND   SOUL 

Church  on  this  point !  When  God  the  Son  became  man 
He  did  not  take  the  germ  of  a  body  and  unite  it  to  His 
divinity,  but  He  took  a  perfect  human  nature — a  body 
and  a  soul.  At  the  very  moment  the  soul  was  united  to 
the  germ  of  a  human  body,  in  the  chaste  womb  of  the 
Yirgin,  before  that  soul  and  body  had  a  personality  of 
its  own,  He  took  it  to  Himself  and  made  that  perfect 
human  nature  His  own  forever.  There  was  no  person- 
ality to  be  displaced.  There  could  be  no  such  thing  as  a 
mere  man-Christ,  there  was  no  individual  existence  even 
for  a  moment,  but  the  individual  second  person  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity. 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  Catholic  sees  at  once  the 
high  position  to  which  the  Yirgin  is  exalted  in  the  econ- 
omy of  salvation.  She  is  not  only  "  full  of  grace"  and 
every  perfection  that  finite  human  nature  is  capable  of 
receiving,  but  she  is  the  connecting  link  between  the 
great  God  and  His  sinful  creatures.  It  is  tlie  flesh  and 
blood  received  from  her  that  enabled  the  second  Divine 
Person  to  offer  up  the  sacrifice  of  expiation.  Through 
her  is  communicated  to  us  the  Divine  life.  She  is  the 
mother  of  all  the  living;  and  through  this  common 
maternity  we  are  made  children  of  God  and  heirs  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  If  God  truly  became  her  son,  then 
we  see  at  once  that  she  never  could  have  borne  the  least 
taint  of  sin.  The  Immaculate  Conception  is  no  longer 
"  a  shadowy  mysticism"  or  "  a  new  article  added  to  an 
overgrown  creed,"  but  the  natural  expansion  and  growth 
and  development  of  a  truth  that  existed  in  the  body  of 
revealed  doctrine  from  the  beginning. 

Let  this  mystery  be  thus  clearly  understood,  and  then 
every  other  truth  of  Christianity  springs  as  it  were  spon- 
taneously from  the  living  stem.     One  of  the  greatest 


OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  87 

mistakes  made  by  the  enemies  of  tlie  Catholic  Church, 
whether  they  are  Christians  or  Infidels,  is  that  the  Church 
is  the  guardian  of  a  fossilized  creed  that  stands  in  the 
way  of  healthy  progress.  She  is,  on  the  contrary,  the 
faithful  guardian  of  the  light  of  Faith,  that  lives  and 
burns  within  her  bosom,  kindling  the  ardor  of  piety  in 
the  hearts  of  her  children  by  exhibiting  to  them  the 
glowing  pile  of  the  traditions  of  past  triumphs  and  the 
accumulated  heap  of  innumerable  records  of  immortal 
hope,  in  her  many  contests  with  the  powers  of  this  world. 
The  Church  is  a  living  organization ;  and  the  breath  of 
her  life  is  the  Spirit  of  Truth  abiding  with  her  forever. 
She  lives  now  with  the  Hf e  breathed  into  her  at  Pentecost, 
and  this  life  manifests  its  vigor  in  proportion  to  the 
violence  of  the  assaults  to  which  she  is  subjected.  When 
lately  she  defined  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, the  savants  of  this  unthinking  age  beheld  in  her 
action  only  the  affectation  and  trifling  of  senile  vanity. 
But  to  those  who  have  received  her  Founder  with  all  the 
fulness  of  His  revelation,  and  to  whom  He  has,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  generous  Faith,  given  power  "  to  be  made 
the  sons  of  God,"  there  is  evidence,  in  this  most  remark- 
able act,  of  her  supernatural  vitality  and  unfaiKng  vigor. 
The  main  effort  of  this  age  of  unbelieving  progress  is 
to  trample  out  the  supernatural  character  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Jesus  is  indeed  in  its  eyes  the  most  distinguished  of 
human  sages,  an  admirable  philosopher,  the  best  of  moral 
teachers.  It  will  admit,  with  the  unbelieving  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees,  that "  no  man  ever  spoke  Hke  Him,"  but  it 
ridicules  the  idea  that  He  was  "  the  Word  made  flesh." 
This  is  the  brilliant  discovery  which  science  has  made  in 
the  field  of  theology,  so  long  neglected  by  it,  and  it 
rejoices  exceedingly^     With  one  bold  stroke  it  has,  it 


88     THE  INCARNATION,   THE   CENTRE   AND   SOUL 

fancies,  laid  bare  the  vain  subtleties  and  scholastic  absurdi- 
ties of  past  ages,  and  its  Renans  and  Strausses  and  the  herd 
of  Positivists  and  Agnostics  clap  their  hands  because  they 
have  shown  the  world  how  to  get  rid  of  the  mystery 
"  that  tormented  them."  But  in  the  midst  of  their  un- 
holy triumph,  lo !  the  old  Church,  which  they  would  make 
believe  was  dead  of  inanition,  speaks  out  with  a  voice 
that  makes  itself  heard  and  felt  throughout  the  whole 
world,  and  proclaims  the  Immaculate  Conception.  She 
brings  forth  Mary — "  the  high  and  strong  defence  of  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel,"  and  by  whom  "  all  the  heresies  of 
the  past  have  been  destroyed."  She  points  to  the  ever- 
faithful  guardian  of  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  and 
because  she  believes  her  to  be  "  the  Mother  of  God,"  as 
firmly  as  did  the  Fathers  in  the  Council  at  Ephesus,  she 
crowns  the  Holy  Virgin  with  the  bright  diadem  of  spot- 
less and  immaculate  perfection. 

This  is  precisely  the  answer  one  trained  in  the  ways 
of  Catholic  Christianity  would  expect  to  be  given  by  the 
venerable  Church  of  ages  to  the  blatant  ravings  of 
modem  impiety — not  a  direct  answer,  for  the  frivolous 
and  thoughtless  crowd  are  unworthy  of  this  attention, 
but  a  sign  set  up  on  high  that  cannot  be  gainsaid  or  mis- 
taken, a  light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness,  and  a  beacon 
to  guide  men  of  good- will  safely  through  the  chaos  and 
desolation  of  modern  society,  its  upheavals  and  its  ruins, 
wrought  by  the  secret  and  persevering  action  of  the 
elements  of  unbelief. 

Once  the  Incarnation  is  accepted  in  all  its  plenitude, 
there  is  no  reasonable  ground  for  unbelief  in  any  of  the 
mysteries.  Take  the  Blessed  Eucharist,  for  instance,  in 
which  we  Catholics  firmly  believe  that  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ  are  verily  and  indeed  received,  and  are 


OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  89 

therefore  present,  in  some  wonderful  way  that  we  do  not 
understand,  under  the  outward  appearances  of  bread  and 
wine. 

There  are,  no  doubt,  difficulties  in  the  way  of  entire 
belief.  "It  is  a  hard  saying"  still  to  the  un regenerate, 
who  have  either  never  received  the  grace  of  Faith,  or, 
having  received  it  in  Baptism,  have  come  wilfully  to 
reject  it.  Just  as  the  unbelieving  multitude  forgot  the 
Ahnighty  Power  which  fed  them  in  the  wilderness  with 
a  few  loaves  and  fishes ;  as  they  forgot  how  He  ruled  the 
storm,  and  was  omnipotent  over  all  the  forces  of  nature, 
and  said  to  one  another,  "  How  can  this  man  give  us  His 
flesh  to  eat  ?"  as  they  obstinately  shut  their  eyes  to  the 
proofs  of  His  Divinity,  and  closed  their  ears  to  any  teach- 
ing, even  from  Heaven,  that  seemed  to  conflict  with  their 
own  notions  of  things — so  do  unbelievers  now  cry  out 
that,  no  matter  what  God  may  say,  however  clearly  and 
emphatically  He  may  express  Himself,  either  by  His 
own  words  or  the  teaching  of  His  Church,  they  will 
not  believe  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence. 
"  How,"  they  argue,  "  can  I  contradict  the  testimony  of 
my  senses  ?"  "  I  see  bread  and  wine,  I  taste  bread  and 
wine,  I  touch  bread  and  wine,  I  smell  these  elements : 
how  can  I  then,  as  a  rational  creature  believe  that  flesh 
and  blood  are  present  before  me  ?" 

Here  again  there  is  the  usual  misrepresentation  of  the 
doctrine  of  Catholic  Christianity.  You  are  not  asked  to 
reject  the  testimony  of  the  senses.  The  senses  testify 
only  to  the  outward  appearances  of  things,  and  in  the 
Blessed  Eucharist  the  outward  appearances  of  bread  and 
wine  remain  unaltered.  You  only  correct  the  ordinary 
judgment  that  is  founded  on  the  evidence  of  sense,  and 
do  not  pronounce  that  the  invisible  substance  is  there,  be- 


90      THE   INCARNATION,   THE   CENTRE   AND   SOUL 

cause  in  this  particular  instance  you  are  warned  by  tlie 
voice  of  God  to  suspend  your  judgment.  If  God  had 
not  spoken  and  told  you  that  the  invisible  substance, 
whose  existence  is  known  not  by  sense  but  by  an  act  of 
the  mind,  is  His  Body  and  Blood,  you  would  be  quite 
right  in  judging  that  bread  and  wine  only  are  really  pre- 
sent. The  presence  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  the  Lord 
is  perceived  only  by  Faith ;  and  Faith,  as  the  Apostle  tells 
us,  "  comes  from  hearing  the  Word  of  God." 

''But,"  continues  the  objector,  "it  is  monstrous  to 
believe  that  a  material  substance  can  by  any  power  be 
changed  into  the  spiritual  substance  of  God,  that  a  crea- 
ture can  create  the  creator." 

Here  again  is  the  same  sort  of  misrepresentation.  The 
Catholic  Church  has  never  taught  that  a  material  substance 
is  changed  into  God.  It  has  taught  from  the  very 
beginning  to  the  present  day  that  God  cannot  deceive 
us,  and  that  when  our  Divine  Lord  says  a  certain  thing 
which  He  presents  to  us  is  His  Body,  we  are  bound  to 
believe  Him.  When  Christ  offered  what  seemed  to  the 
Apostles  to  be  Bread,  He  said,  as  plainly  as  words  could 
express  the  truth,  "  This  is  my  Body."  He  did  not  say 
This  Bread  is  my  Body,  but  clearly  and  distinctly,  as  the 
Evangelists  give  his  words— "  This,"  that  I  offer  you. 
Had  He  said  This  Bread — He  would  have  announced  a 
proposition  which  could  no  more  be  true  than  the  absurd 
doctrine,  put  in  the  mouth  of  the  Church  by  unbelievers, 
"  One  God  is  three  Gods." 

Ko  doubt  the  Apostles  believed  the  words  of  their 
Divine  Master.  They  saw  at  once  that  in  this  wonder- 
ful way  the  promise  which  had  once  so  startled  them 
and  drew  so  strongly  on  their  faith  was  fulfilled.  We 
can  easily  picture  to  ourselves  the  joy  and  consolation 


OP  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  91 

wliich  filled  their  simple  and  trusting  hearts  at  the  last 
supper,  when  they  were  made  one  with  Jesus  in  the  Holy 
Communion.  What  Christ  did  then,  He  gave  power  to 
His  Apostles  to  do  in  Kke  manner,  and  commanded  them 
to  do  it. 

And  what,  after  this  brief  explanation  of  the  Catholic 
doctrine,  becomes  of  the  objection  changing  Bread  into 
God,  and  the  creature  creating  his  creator  ?  By  the  power 
of  God,  and  by  the  order  of  God  man  speaks,  and  the 
substance  of  Bread  is  changed  into  the  Body  of  the  Lord. 
"But,"  our  objector  will  say,  "this  doctrine  is  incon- 
ceivable. How  could  Christ  hold  in  His  own  hands  His 
Body  ? "  It  is  inconceivable  to  our  ways  of  thought,  but 
it  is  in  some  way  possible  to  the  great  God — and  we  know 
that  Christ  was  God. 

But  how  can  we  possibly  believe  that  the  Body  of  the 
Lord  is  present  in  ten  thousand  places  at  the  same  time — 
that  it  is  in  Heaven  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  and 
yet  really  present  in  innumerable  places  upon  earth  ?  We 
must  believe  Him  who  has  the  words  of  eternal  life,  for 
we  believe  and  confess  that  "  He  is  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God."  "  But  is  it  not  contrary  to  common-sense  to 
believe  that  the  same  body  can  be  present  in  different 
places  at  the  same  time  ?"  Yes,  it  is  impossible  to  con- 
ceive this  of  a  mortal  body,  subject,  as  our  bodies  are,  to 
the  laws  of  space  and  the  other  laws  of  material  substances. 
But  who  shall  tell  us,  in  a  way  that  is  intelligible  to  our 
senses,  what  is  "  a  spiritual  body  "?  (1  Cor.  xv.  44.)  Who 
will  explain  how  the  few  loaves  and  fishes  were,  by  the 
blessing  of  our  Lord,  in  many  mouths  at  the  same  time  ? 
How  was  it  brought  about  that  the  fragments  of  the  feast 
exceeded  the  original  loaves  and  fishes,  since  it  is  clear, 
from  the  words  of  the  sacred  text,  that  there  was  no  addi- 


92      THE   INCARNATION,   THE   CENTRE    AND   SOUL 

tion  as  we  should  understand  it — "  twelve  baskets  were 
filled  with  the  fragments  of  the  ^Ye  barley  loaves"  (John 
vii  13).  There  is  as  much  of  an  apparent  contradiction 
here,  as  we,  according  to  our  way  of  conceiving  things, 
see  in  the  body  of  the  Lord  held  in  the  hands  of  the 
Lord.  How  did  the  body  of  Christ  walk  upon  the 
waters?  How  did  it  penetrate  the  closed  doors  of  the 
room  where  the  disciples  were  assembled,  and  yet  be  pal- 
pable, visible,  and  subject  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  matter  ? 
How  did  that  body,  mangled  and  torn  with  many  wounds, 
that  lay  dead  in  the  sepulchre,  pierce  the  solid  rock  at 
the  moment  of  the  Resurrection  ? 

There  are  many  things  not  imagined  in  human  phi- 
losophy which  have  to  be  cleared  up  and  fully  explained 
before  we  can  apply  the  laws  of  our  limited  experience 
to  fetter  the  powers  of  the  Omnipotent  God.  "  You  be- 
lieve in  the  Incarnation,"  we  say  to  the  caviller :  "  do  you 
receive  this  mystery  as  it  is  defined  by  Catholic  Christi- 
anity ?  Do  you  bow  down  your  reason,  and  put  aside 
all  the  objections  which  your  proud  thoughts  might  excite 
within  you  at  this  marvel  of  omniscient  and  omnipotent 
love  ?  Then  cease  to  ask,  '  How  can  this  man  give  us 
His  flesh  to  eat  ? ' "  Having  given  up  His  life  to  save  us, 
though  as  God  and  in  His  Divine  nature  He  was  incap- 
able of  suffering  and  of  death ;  having  reduced  Himself 
to  the  condition  of  a  helpless  babe ;  nay  more,  having 
stooped,  God  as  He  was,  to  be  less  than  man — "  a  worm, 
and  no  man  " — what  limits  shall  we  set,  according  to  our 
poor  views,  to  the  excess  of  Divine  love  shown  so  prodi- 
gally in  the  whole  economy  of  Redemption  ? 

Suppose  a  learned  Jew  were  to  enter  the  stable  of 
Bethlehem,  and  to  hear  from  the  lips  of  a  Catholic,  that 
the  weeping  infant  was  the  God  who  made  all  things,  on 


OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  93 

what  conceivable  principle  of  philosophy  such  as  we  can 
understand,  could  this  Jew  receive  the  glad  tidings  ?  He 
would  be  bound  by  every  principle  of  sound  reason  and 
common-sense,  unenlightened  by  revelation,  to  laugh 
contemptuously  at  the  senseless  idea.  But  men  who  set 
no  bounds  to  their  joy  and  gratitude  for  the  manifestation 
of  love  shown  in  the  birth  of  Christ,  turn  short  in  their 
acceptance  of  the  traditions  of  the  Faith,  and  presume  to 
blaspheme  that  other  mystery  which,  to  a  well-ordered 
Christian  mind,  is  the  natural  outcome  and  complement 
of  the  Incarnation. 

There  is  only  one  drawback  which  I  see  to  the  consol- 
ing Faith  of  the  Catholic  Christian,  and  that  is  the  con- 
sciousness of  our  want  of  appreciation  of  this  great 
mystery.  We  do  not  value,  as  we  ought,  the  Infinite 
condescension  displayed  in  the  adorable  Sacrament  of 
the  Blessed  Eucharist. 

"What  shall  tepid  and  indifferent  Catholics  say  at  the 
awful  judgment,  when  those,  who  knew  nothing,  or  had 
but  a  most  imperfect  idea  of  this  priceless  treasure,  will 
charge  them,  as  well  they  may,  with  a  want  of  rev- 
erence and  love  for  the  Blessed  Eucharist  ?  "  Had  we 
known,"  they  will  say,  "  what  was  meant  by  the  abiding 
presence  of  the  man-God,  had  we  observed  in  the  piety 
and  fervor  of  Catholics  the  outward  signs  of  a  real  and 
lively  faith,  and  thus  been  attracted  to  inquire  into  its 
mysterious  meaning,  how  easy  it  would  have  been  to  have 
loved  God  above  all  things,  to  have  borne  the  heat  and 
burden  of  the  day,  to  have  struggled  bravely  on  through 
the  many  tribulations  of  life,  and,  fortified  by  the  Bread 
of  Life,  to  have  reached  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  ! " 

Thoughts  like  these  naturally  crowd  upon  us  as  we 
realize,  as  far  as  our  poor  finite  minds  can  realize,  in  this 


94     THE  INCARNATIOTT,   THE   CENTRE  AND   SOUL 

great  Sacrament,  the  breadth  and  depth  of  the  love 
of  the  Sacred  Heart.  But  we  are  weak  in  all  things, 
most  weak  in  Faith.  We  seem  not  to  feel  the  great- 
ness of  the  gift;  as  we  disregard  the  terrors  of  His 
justice,  so  we  seem  to  forget  the  patience  and  long-suffer- 
ing of  His  Infinite  mercy.  And  thus  outsiders  to  the 
plenitude  of  Catholic  Faith,  who  make  no  allowance  for 
our  manifold  imperfections  and  our  narrow  conceptions 
of  the  Infinite,  behold  in  our  tepidity  and  indifference 
towards  the  Blessed  Eucharist,  an  unmistakable  proof  of 
the  hoUowness  of  our  professions.  'No  wonder  that  In- 
fidels, noticing  the  bad  lives  of  many  Catholics,  who 
neither  practise  the  duties  of  their  religion,  nor  are  re- 
strained by  its  threats  of  the  Divine  vengeance,  conclude 
that  we  have  no  real  belief  in  the  mysteries  which 
should  challenge  all  our  gratitude,  or  excite  our  liveliest 
apprehensions. 

A  clever  writer  has  thus  recently  combated  the  Chris- 
tian Faith  in  the  eternity  of  torments.  If  we  believed 
it,  he  says,  we  could  not  rest ;  the  horrible  thought  that 
some  one  dear  to  us  might  be  enduring  in  hell  the  incon- 
ceivable miseries  of  the  "  worm  that  dieth  not  and  the 
inextinguishable  fire,"  would  rob  us  of  anything  like 
happiness.  There  could  not,  he  argues,  be  any  possible 
pleasure  for  the  true  believer,  who  really  set  before  his 
mind  the  bare  possibility  of  ever  coming  to  "that  place 
of  torment."  And  as  it  is  a  fact  that  men  who  profess 
to  believe  in  the  eternity  of  woe  are  happy,  and  "  marry 
and  think  of  marrying,"  and  spend  their  lives  in  the  en- 
joyment of  good  things,  there  is,  he  triumphantly  con- 
cludes, proof  positive  that  Faith  is  only  a  sham,  and  that 
we  feed  our  belief  on  mere  fancies  and  words  without 
meaning. 


OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY.  96 

How  little  do  such  reasoners  reflect  on  the  selfishness 
of  humanity,  and  how  natural  it  is  for  the  best  of  us  to 
live  almost  entirely  in  the  present,  and  forget  the  hopes 
and  terrors  of  eternity!  There  is  One  alone  who  per- 
fectly gauges  the  depths  of  human  feeling,  and  who 
fully  understands  the  many  weaknesses  and  imperfections 
of  our  nature,  for  He  is  not  only  omniscient,  but  has 
made  actual  trial  of  our  infirmities ;  "tempted  in  all  things 
— save  sin — even  as  we  are  tempted."  He  has  made  us 
free,  and  He  knows  that  the  primeval  fall  has  in  a  manner 
"  bewitched "  our  liberty.  He  will  not  deprive  us  how- 
ever of  the  plenitude  of  that  gift,  which,  notwithstanding 
all  its  wUd  excesses,  is  the  glory  of  humanity.  He  con- 
stantly bestows  upon  us  the  supernatural  gifts  of  grace, 
that  sweetly  incline  this  wayward  will  of  ours  to  good — 
but  He  will  not  force  its  compliance  with  these  gentle 
impulses  that  warn  us  to  provide  for  "  the  one  thing  nec- 
essary." He  has  wisely  provided  for  our  want  of  co-op- 
eration with  these  precious  gifts  of  Infinite  mercy. 

Later  on  we  shall  see  how  this  kind  Providence  is  man- 
ifested in  the  organization  and  direction  of  His  Church. 
In  the  next  chapter,  we  shall  consider  how  He  has  pro- 
vided for  our  wants  and  miseries,  for  our  coldness  and 
indifference,  for  our  thoughtlessness  and  frivolity,  for 
our  weakness  and  infidelities,  in  the  sacramental  system 
of  Catholic  Christianity. 


96  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    DEVELOPED 


CHAPTEE  lY. 

Catholic  Christianity  Developed  in  the  Sacra- 
mental Principle. 

-A/rO:^SEIGKEUE  DEYEKEUX,  the  first  Bishop 
-^-^  and  Yicar  Apostolic  of  the  Eastern  Districts  of 
the  Cape  Colony,  often  described  to  me  the  want  ex- 
perienced by  souls,  who,  though  not  Catholics,  were  dis- 
tinguished by  a  pious  disposition  to  have  something 
sensible  as  the  object  of  their  adoration.  In  his  large 
experience,  he  had  met  with  many  Protestants  of  both 
sexes,  people  of  education  and  position,  who  expressed 
to  him  this  feeling  of  a  void  and  emptiness  in  their  de- 
votions, and  of  a  craving  after  something  real  and  clearly 
defined  to  their  minds,  before  which  they  could  pray 
with  earnestness  and  attention.  They  could  not,  they 
said,  form  to  themselves  any  notion  of  the  great  God  ; 
and  they  felt,  as  it  were,  lost  in  dreamy  speculations 
about  the  nature  of  the  Infinite,  when  they  wanted  most 
of  all  to  solicit  His  blessings  and  invoke  His  help  and 
protection.  They  dreaded,  they  said,  anything  like  an 
anthropomorphic  or  human  conception  of  the  Deity ;  it 
would  seem  so  like  Idolatry ;  and  from  their  vague  and 
misty  ideas  of  the  Incarnation,  they  shrank  from  appeal- 
ing directly  to  the  Saviour  as  their  God. 

ISTo  doubt  the  same  sentiment  led  to  the  material 
visions  of  Paganism,  and  to  the  peopling  the  amcena 
loca  of  this  world  with  imaginary  deities.  It  may  ac- 
count also  for  the  worship  of  what  is  called   Nature, 


IN  THE  SACRAMENTAL   PRINCIPLE.  97 

wMch  is  tlie  result  of  Rationalism,  and  finds  so  many- 
votaries  amongst  the  aesthetic  writers  and  thinkers  of  the 
present  day. 

To  the  Catholic  properly  instructed,  and  understanding 
the  spirit  of  his  religion,  such  thoughts  and  fancies  are 
impossible.  He  clearly  understands  that  God  our  Saviour 
has  fully  experienced  in  our  nature  all  its  weaknesses, 
and  all  its  longings  for  direct  communication  with  the 
Author  of  its  being.  In  the  prayers  of  the  daily  Mass, 
he  is  reminded  of  the  stooping  down  of  the  Great  Being 
who  has  made  all  things,  that  we  might  be  enabled  to 
rise  through  Him  to  the  full  appreciation  of  the  tie  that 
binds  us  to  "  Our  Father"  in  heaven.  Thus  in  the 
Offertory,  we  have  this  beautiful  prayer  used  by  the 
priest,  when  he  pours  a  few  drops  of  water  into  the  wine 
in  the  chalice :  "  O  God,  who  didst  wonderfully  create 
the  dignity  of  human  nature,  and  more  wonderfully  still 
renew  it,  grant  us  by  this  mystery  of  this  wine  and 
water,  to  become  sharers  of  His  Divinity  who  deigned 
to  become  a  portion  of  our  humanity."  And  again  in 
the  Preface  of  Christmas  Day :  "  That  while  we  recognize 
God  in  a  visible  form,  we  may  by  Him  be  caught  up 
into  the  love  of  the  invisible." 

He  is  taught  also,  in  the  popular  devotion  of  the 
Rosary,  to  meditate  on  every  striking  fact  of  the  life 
and  humiliations  and  sufferings  and  death  of  "  the  Word 
made  flesh."  In  the  Holy  Eucharist,  with  the  instinct 
of  a  lively  faith,  he  almost  feels  the  touch  of  the  God-man 
abiding  within  him.  In  the  Benediction  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  the  most  ordinary  evening  devotion  in  Catho- 
lic churches,  he  receives  the  blessing  of  the  Emmanuel. 
In  the  processions  on  solemn  occasions  he  is  taught  to 
realize  the  fact  that  the  Saviour  is  ever  abiding  with  us, 


98  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  DEVELOPED 

**  passing  along  amongst  us,"  as  He  did  once  visibly  on 
earth,  "  doing  good."  In  the  Sacrament  of  Penance,  he 
recognizes  in  the  voice  of  the  priest,  the  voice  of  Him 
who  said  to  Magdalen,  "  Go  in  peace,  thy  sins  are  for- 
given." When  the  soul  is  fluttering  on  the  brink  of 
eternity,  and  the  vanity  of  all  earthly  things  is  revealed 
in  the  glimmering  of  the  dawn  of  eternity,  and  he 
shrinks  back  affrighted  at  the  threshold  of  the  dread 
passage  which  he  must  face  alone,  and  sees  in  spirit  the 
powers  of  darkness  banding  together  to  hinder  him  on 
his  way,  it  is  not,  he  knows  well,  the  words  of  an  earthly 
comforter  that  whisper  courage,  it  is  the  voice  and  the 
hand  of  God  Himself,  who,  by  the  ministry  of  His 
priests  anoints  his  body  for  the  last  struggle,  and  reminds 
him  that  he  must  not  fear,  for  Christ  has  conquered 
death,  and  in  His  person  has  enabled  us  all  to  share  His 
triumph.  Through  the  great  sacrament  of  the  Incar- 
nation, he  realizes  to  the  fuU,  the  efficacy  of  the  other 
sacraments  which  are  its  complement ;  and  so,  while  yet 
on  this  earth  of  shadows  and  darkness,  he  sees  the  object 
of  his  Faith,  it  may  be  dimly,  but  yet  clearly  enough  to 
put  to  flight  the  earthly  thoughts  that  might  rise  be- 
tween him  and  the  object  of  his  devotion. 

There  is  not  in  the  whole  world  a  Catholic,  however 
lowly  his  position  among  men,  who  has  not  learned  at 
his  mother's  knee  to  feel  these  august  privileges,  and  to 
place  himself  in  close  communion  with  the  supernatural. 
If  he  be  a  man  of  "good- will,"  he  can  walk  and  converse 
with  God  here  below  and,  through  the  instincts  of  Di- 
vine Faith,  share  in  the  privilege  our  first  parents  enjoyed 
while  they  were  yet  innocent,  and  hear  the  very  voice  of 
God  speaking  to  his  heart. 

This  is  the  wonderful  blessing  which  Catholic  Chris- 


IN   THE  SACRAMENTAL   PRINCIPLE.  99 

tianity  offers  in  the  sacramental  system  to  all  her  children. 
It  is  worth  while  to  dwell  upon  it  for  a  few  moments, 
and  endeavor  to  catch  another  glimpse  of  the  loveliness 
of  this  pure  Faith,  so  little  known  and  understood  out- 
side the  Church. 

I  have  already  said  that  Protestants  are  afraid  to  ana- 
lyze the  mysteries  of  revealed  truth.  They  consider  it 
irreverent  to  inquire  deeply  into  their  meaning,  and  they 
regard  it  as  an  unmistakable  sign  of  fitting  respect  for 
the  Lord  and  Master  of  all  things  to  cultivate  this  feel- 
ing.    'No  doubt  in  a  certain  sense  they  are  right. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  sinful  curiosity  and  an  irrev- 
erent attempt  to  pry  into  the  unfathomable  secrets  of 
Infinite  Being.  If  a  man  in  the  pride  of  his  intellect 
will  give  way  to  the  dangerous  temptation  that  it  is  in  his 
power  to  sound  these  depths,  and  by  the  aid  of  science 
accurately  discriminate  how  much  for  example  of  the 
Divine  nature  could  be  assimilated  in  the  human  soul,  or 
to  determine  how  far  the  human  brain  could  bear  the 
tension  of  omniscience,  or  the  human  heart  the  vast  and 
boundless  love  which  is  in  God,  or  to  calculate  by  alge- 
braical formulas  the  relations  of  the  three  Divine  persons 
to  each  other,  this  subtle  speculation  would  deservedly 
bring  its  own  punishment.  "  He  that  is  a  searcher  of 
majesty  shall  be  overwhelmed  by  glory"  (Pro v.  xxv.  27). 
"We  are  warned  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures  against  this  high- 
mindedness.  "  Seek  not  the  things  that  are  too  high  for 
thee,  and  search  not  into  things  above  thy  ability"  (Ec- 
clesiasticus  iii.  22).  "  Be  not  high-minded,  but  fear " 
(Kom.  xi.  20). 

But  when  I  say  that  Protestants  fear  to  study  the  in- 
comprehensible truths  of  Bevelation,  I  do  not  allude  to 
lofty  speculations  such  as  these.     They  fear  to  set  before 


100  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   DEVELOPED 

them,  as  far  as  reason  can  conceive  them,  the  wonderful 
ways  of  God  in  His  dealings  with  us,  and  shrink  from 
meditating  on  the  depths  to  which  He  has  humbled  Him- 
self to  make  us  happy.  They  go  farther  than  this  in 
their  misplaced  reverence,  and  like  the  Jansenists,  form  to 
themselves  notions  of  what  is  becoming  to  the  Deity  in 
His  relations  with  His  creatures,  and  lay  down  precise 
and  rigid  laws  of  respect  and  decorum,  which,  no  matter 
how  they  may  be  contradicted  by  Revelation,  are  never 
to  be  transgressed. 

This  is  altogether  opposed  to  the  first  principles  of 
Catholic  Christianity.  Far  from  encouraging  the  exag- 
gerated feelings  of  awe  which  would  only  fill  us  with 
terror  of  approaching  God  and  sever  our  affections  from 
Him,  the  Catholic  Church  endeavors,  throughout  her 
whole  liturgy  and  by  her  explanation  of  the  sacramental 
system,  to  teach  us  to  cultivate  hopefully  the  closest 
relations  with  God,  that  can  be  derived  from  anything 
that  He  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  tell  us  of  His  In- 
finite Condescension.  Hence  these  devotions  to  every 
shred  of  the  history  of  the  Passion  of  our  Saviour,  the 
sacred  wounds  in  the  hands  and  feet  and  side,  the  Pre- 
cious Blood,  the  crown  of  thorns,  the  lance  and  nails,  the 
Sacred  Heart.  All  these  in  endless  variety  rise  before  the 
mental  vision  of  the  devout  Catholic  in  his  daily  prayers, 
and  touchingly  invite  him  to  approach  in  spirit  and  ven- 
erate and  adore  the  Sacred  Humanity  of  our  Divine 
Lord. 

But  here  it  will  be  asked  by  those  who  are  not  Catho- 
hcs,  "  Can  we  really  adore  the  Body  of  our  Divine  Lord  ? 
Can  we,  fixing  the  eyes  of  the  soul  on  the  Sacred  Hands 
and  Feet,  embrace  them  in  spirit,  as  though  they  formed 
part  of  the  Divinity  ?   Can  we,  contemplating  the  beatings 


IN  THE  SACRAMENTAL  PRINCIPLE.  101 

of  the  Sacred  Heart,  as  it  throbbed  with  convulsive  agony 
in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemani,  or  was  broken  on  the  cross, 
bow  down  and  worship  this  material  object  as  the  seat  of 
Divine  love  ? 

I  answer  at  once,  undoubtedly  we  can ;  and  more,  we 
ought  to  adore  and  worship  the  Sacred  Humanity  of  our 
Divine  Redeemer  in  whatever  way  it  appeals  to  our  de- 
votion. And  the  reason  is  because  the  main  object  of 
this  devotion  is  the  Divine  Person,  and  because  this 
Divine  Personality  cannot  be  considered  as  something 
separate  and  apart  from  the  Sacred  Humanity. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  make  this  point  clear ; 
for  Protestants  constantly  accuse  the  Catholic  Church  of 
a  coarse  and  material  worship,  and  pointing  to  the  expla- 
nation given  in  our  prayer-books  of  the  Devotion  to  the 
Sacred  Heart  or  Precious  Blood,  exclaim,  "  This  worship 
of  the  Poman  Catholic  Church  is  evidently  a  carnal  wor- 
ship ;  and  Roman  Catholics  cannot  possibly,  with  such 
materialistic  conceptions,  worship  4n  spirit  and  in 
truth.'" 

Those  who  reason  thus  show  unmistakably  that  they  do 
not  understand  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  as  it  is 
defined  and  has  ever  been  explained  by  the  Catholic 
Church.  Their  ideas  only  reach  the  old  heresy  of  ]N'esto- 
rius,  or,  to  go  back  farther  still,  owe  their  existence  to 
that  spirit  of  error  which,  even  in  the  time  of  the  Beloved 
Disciple,  attempted  to  "  dissolve  Christ,"  or  to  divide  the 
honor  due  to  our  Divine  Saviour  into  two  distinct  acts — 
adoration  to  the  Divine  Person  and  inferior  honor  to  the 
Humanity  sanctified  by  His  Divine  presence.  I*Testorius, 
when  it  became  evident  that  the  Council  of  Ephesus 
would  proclaim  Mary  to  be  the  Mother  of  God,  was  heard 
to  exclaim,  "  As  for  me,  I  can  never  make  up  my  mind 


102  CATHOLIC  CHRISTIANITY    DEVELOPED 

CO  say  that  a  eHld  of  two  or  three  montlis  is  God,  nor  to 
adore  an  infant  at  its  mother's  breast." 

Modem  unorthodox  Christianity,  when  it  does  attempt 
to  define  its  views  and  opinions  on  the  Incarnation,  is 
forced  to  approve  of  the  views  of  the  old  heresiarch  of 
Constantinople ;  for  with  IN^estorius,  it  should  say,  by  the 
very  fact  of  condemning  the  adoration  of  the  Humanity 
of  our  Lord,  that  the  Sacred  Humanity  might  indeed  be 
adored  with  the  Godhead,  that  is,  like  a  separate  being 
by  its  side,  but  by  a  different  act.  This  view,  plausible  as 
it  seems,  is  condemned  as  a  heresy  by  the  Fifth  General 
Council,  which  pronounces  Anathema  upon  all  who  do 
not  adore  the  Manhood  with  one  and  the  same  adora- 
tion as  that  which  is  paid  to  the  Everlasting  Word. 
"  n  any  one  says  that  Christ  is  to  be  adored  in  the  two 
natures  (where  two  adorations  are  introduced),  but  that 
God  the  Word  Incarnate  with  His  own  flesh  is  not  to  be 
adored  with  one  adoration,  as  was  always  handed  down 
by  tradition  in  the  Church,  let  him  be  anathema"  (Fifth 
General  Council,  Second  of  Constantinople,  col.  8,  9). 

To  make  the  matter  clearer.  Suppose  we  abstract  the 
notion  of  the  Divine  Personality  from  the  Body  of 
Christ,  and  we  regard  the  Heart  by  itself,  or  the  Head 
crowned  with  thorns,  or  the  wounded  Hands  and  Feet, 
fixing  our  eyes  only  on  the  image  of  our  Lord,  as  it  is 
represented  by  painters,  would  it  not  in  this  case  be  a 
sort  of  material  idolatry  to  adore  these  portions  of  the 
Sacred  Humanity  ? 

The  answer  given  to  this  question  by  our  Divines  is 
simply  this — In  the  matter  of  adoration  it  is  unlawful  to 
make  such  an  abstraction.  If  you  suppose  that  a  separa- 
tion did  take  place  between  the  Human  nature  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  Divinity,  then  of  course  the  Body  or  any 


IN  THE  Sacramental  principle.  103 

part  of  it  could  not  be  adored.  But  this  separation  can- 
not take  place.  The  two  natures  united  by  the  bond  of 
Personality  are  united  forever  and  ever,  and  cannot  be 
separated  even  in  imagination. 

To  make  this  plainer  still.  Suppose  we  regard  the 
Body  of  our  Divine  Lord  when  it  was  separated  from  the 
soul,  when  it  lay  dead  in  the  lap  of  the  Mother  of 
Sorrows,  or  while  it  lay  in  the  tomb  cold  and  stiff,  was  it 
to  be  adored  then  ?  Undoubtedly  it  was,  because  the 
Body  was  united  to  the  Divinity  as  well  as  the  soul.  The 
Divine  "Word  did  not  allow  the  soul  to  form  a  barrier 
to  His  union  with  the  Body.  He  made  the  Personal 
union  extend  to  each ;  and  this  union  was  not  broken  for 
a  moment,  even  in  death.  The  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus 
cold  in  death  was  intimately  united  with  the  Divinity, 
and  as  such  was  deserving  of  the  honor  and  adoration  due 
to  the  second  Divine  Person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity. 

Here  there  is  no  uncertain  sound,  not  even  the  whisper 
of  a  doubt,  to  distract  the  devout  thoughts  concentrated 
on  the  image  of  our  Divine  Lord.  We  can  picture  Him 
to  ourselves  as  we  please,  the  Child  in  the  manger  of 
"  Bethlehem ;  the  Child  in  the  arms  of  the  young  Mother, 
and  watched  over  by  St.  Joseph  in  the  flight  into  Egypt ; 
the  Child  disputing  with  the  learned  doctors  in  the 
Temple ;  or  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  sorrowful  even  unto 
death,  crowned  with  thorns,  scourged,  or  sinking  under 
the  weight  of  the  heavy  cross,  or  dying  on  Calvary.  If 
we  prefer  to  contemplate  Him  in  anothjer  form  and  to 
refresh  our  Faith  by  the  glorious  Mysteries,  we  may  in 
company  with  the  Apostles  and  the  Holy  Virgin  behold 
Him  newly  risen,  see  Him  mounting  up  into  heaven,  or 
hear  the  rushing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  they  heard  it  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost. 


104  CATHOLIC  CHRISTIANITY  DEVELOPED 

There  is  no  limit  to  the  pious  imagination.  We  may 
call  in  the  help  of  genius  and  art,  to  enable  us  to  picture 
to  our  fancy  brighter,  clearer  and  more  enrapturing 
visions  of  the  birth,  life  and  sufferings,  humiliations, 
death,  and  the  glorious  triumphs  after  death.  In  what- 
ever form  the  Sacred  Humanity  most  touchingly  awakens 
our  sympathy,  or  excites  our  reverence,  we  may  by  every 
means  in  our  power  call  np  the  vision,  to  fix  our  wayward 
thoughts,  and  satisfy  this  craving  for  something,  that, 
through  the  senses,  may  appeal  most  effectually  to  our 
souls ;  and  fall  down  in  spirit  and  adore  and  love  with- 
out one  misgiving  that  we  are  trespassing  on  the  Divine 
Condescension,  or  offending  the  great  God  by  endeavoring 
to  communicate  with  Him,  in  the  only  way  that  satisfies 
the  infirmities  of  weak  human  nature. 

When  the  true  teaching  of  Catholic  Christianity  is 
understood,  who  for  a  moment  would  think  of  finding 
fault  with  simple-minded  Catholics  and  children  gathered 
round  the  humble  crib,  constructed  rudely  by  themselves, 
and  communicating  to  each  other  by  their  reverent  looks 
and  bearing,  and  the  chanting  of  the  touching  Christmas 
hymns,  something  of  the  feelings  which  animated  the  poor " 
shepherds  on  Christmas  morning  ?  Surely  no  one  but  a 
blind  Pharisee  would  protest  against  a  devotion  so  simple 
and  so  natural  as  this,  particularly  when  it  has  the  high 
sanction  of  Him,  who  loved  to  gather  round  Him  the  little 
children,  and  to  hear  their  expression  of  praise  and  love — 
the  most  perfect  praise  ever  accorded  to  Him  openly  in 
this  world.  To  Catholic  Faith,  whatever  chills  devotion 
founded  on  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the  Church,  must 
be  contrary  to  the  best  instincts  of  our  nature,  when  they 
are  enlivened  and  exalted  by  Grace.  The  earnest  Catholic 
cannot  help   shuddering,  when   he  hears  the  whining 


IN   THE  SACRAMENTAL   PRINCIPLE.  106 

cant  of  pity  deploring  pietj  of  this  kind,  for  it  seems  to 
him  as  if  men,  in  their  spiritual  pride  and  the  obstinacy 
which  results  from,  it  were  rudely  thrusting  themselves 
between  the  good  God  and  His  children,  and  attempting 
to  rob  Him  of  what  is  dearest  to  Him  in  this  world,  the 
expression  of  their  unaffected  love  and  heartfelt  devotion. 
There  is  certainly  such  a  thing  as  over-reverence,  and 
gloomy  severity  in  the  worship  of  God ;  for  it  was  this 
spirit  which  was  one  of  the  chief  causes  that  separated 
France  from  God  in  the  period  of  the  great  Revolution. 
There  were  of  course  other  causes,  the  spirit  of  licentious- 
ness, and  covetousness  the  offspring  of  Free-thought ;  but 
even  temptations  like  these  could  scarcely  have  torn  away 
the  hearts  of  the  children  of  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
Church  from  their  good  mother,  if  these  hearts  had  not 
been  first  estranged  from  her,  by  the  cold  and  rigid  spirit 
infused  into  her  by  unnatural  and  m  orbid  Jansenism .  The 
Church  of  France,  half  poisoned  by  Gallicanism,  and 
robbed  of  her  generous  and  benevolent  nature  by  the 
withering  influence  of  this  most  insidious  of  all  heresies, 
was  regarded  as  a  sort  of  step-mother  by  the  children 
who  once  revered  and  loved  her.  She  denounced  the 
consoling  and  healthy  practices  of  genuine  Catholicity, 
and  rose  up,  in  her  rigid  austerity,  like  a  hideous  night- 
mare between  the  good  God  and  His  trusting  children. 
They  dared  not  receive  the  Divine  Saviour  in  the  Holy 
Communion  without  a  laborious  preparation  of  wearying 
weeks  and  months.  They  were  cut  off  from  the  usual 
evening  Benediction.  Confession  was  made  something 
like  what  Protestants  mainly  regard  it — "  a  cruel  butchery 
of  the  soul."  The  Eosary  and  the  popular  forms  of 
devotion^  which  the  faithful  were  accustomed  to  recite 
with  the  confidence  and  artless  and  unaffected  ways  of 


106  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  DEVELOPED 

children  addressing  a  loved  father  or  mother,  were  to  be 
drawled  forth  in  measured  accents,  involving  tedious 
rests  and  pauses  for  the  renewal  of  attention  and  the 
fixing  of  the  thoughts,  all  determined  by  fanciful  rules 
opposed  to  the  natural  flow  of  pious  feelings.  'No  won- 
der that  the  service  of  God  in  the  family  and  confrater- 
nity became  gradually  hateful  from  this  prim  Puritanism, 
and  that  the  many  who  had  been  taught  by  pious  parents, 
brought  up  themselves  in  the  wholesome  traditions  of  the 
Faith,  to  see  a  kind  and  indulgent  Providence  in  every 
event  of  their  daily  Hves,  shrunk  within  themselves  at 
the  new  ideas  of  a  God  indifferent  to  individual  piety, 
and  gloomily  meting  out  to  the  predestined  elect,  the  re- 
wards determined  by  Him  irrespective  of  personal  merit 
or  demerit,  and  the  punishments  allotted  by  invincible 
fatality  from  all  eternity. 

Every  one  acquainted  with  the  history  of  this  unfor- 
tunate country  well  knows  that  habits  of  thought,  like 
these  I  have  just  mentioned,  found  the  middle  classes 
and  peasantry  of  France  destitute  of  spiritual  aid,  when 
the  deluge  of  Free-thought,  and  the  upheavings  of  Com- 
munism, and  whirlwinds  of  hatred  to  aristocracy  and 
kingly  power  and  all  their  associations,  burst  upon 
society.  Prayer  had  fallen  into  disuse,  the  sacraments 
had  been  long  neglected,  the  churches  were  deserted. 
There  was  no  anchor  of  hope,  no  shelter  for  the  poor 
victims  carried  about  by  every  blast  of  the  new  opinions, 
and  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the  leaders  of  the  count- 
less clubs.  The  consequence  naturally  was  that  unbelief 
soon  led  to  social  destruction. 

"  History  repeats  itself ;"  and  if  a  social  revolution  one 
of  these  days  startle  Europe,  there  will  be  no  vestiges  of 
Faith  outside  the  Catholic  Church  to  stem  the  flood  of 


IN  THE  SACRAMENTAL   PRINCIPLE.  107 

evils  that  are  already  invading  society.  If  the  sacra- 
mental system  were  something  merely  human,  then  it 
would  be  silly  to  attach  to  its  disuse,  consequences  so 
serious  and  appalling;  but  when  we  consider  that  it  is 
Divinely  instituted  as  a  help  to  human  weakness,  we 
cannot  wonder  that  its  voluntary  rejection  by  human 
pride  should  bring  with  it  effects  so  disastrous. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  taught  from  the  beginning 
that  our  Divine  Lord,  even  during  His  stay  visibly  in  this 
world  and  while  His  followers  were  sustained  in  their 
Faith  by  His  sensible  presence,  made  use  of  plain  out- 
ward means  to  confer  His  blessings  on  those  who  needed 
them.  He  did  this  to  prepare  future  generations  for 
this  palpable  method  of  bestowing  His  favors.  It 
manifestly  needed  on  His  part  no  material  ceremonies  to 
heal  the  afflicted  who  had  recourse  to  Him.  He  who, 
when  it  pleased  Him,  had  changed  the  whole  face  of 
chaos,  brought  forth  by  His  sovereign  will  from  original 
nothing,  and  formed  it  into  the  beautiful  world  of 
creation,  who  had  said  "Let  light  be,"  and  forthwith 
light  beamed  on  the  heaving  mass  of  being  external  to 
HimseK,  was  in  no  way  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  ex- 
ternal agency,  for  the  accomplishment  of  His  many  acts 
of  beneficence. 

He  had  merely  to  will  interiorly  the  desired  change, 
and  at  once  the  blind  should  see,  the  lame  walk,  the  deaf 
hear,  and  the  dead  arise.  But  we  know  that  while  He 
walked  about  on  this  earth,  "  as  many  as  touched  Him 
were  made  whole "  (Mark  vi.  56).  He  seemed  to  make 
it  a  necessary  condition  to  the  effect  of  His  healing 
power,  that  He  should  "touch"  those  who  applied  to 
Him  for  relief.  He,  who  could  easily  have  produced  all 
the  effects  of  Infinite  power  by  His  mere  word,  or  rather 


108  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   DEVELOPED 

by  His  will  alone  (for  even  words  are  sacramental 
means),  yet  was  pleased  to  act  upon  HLis  creatures  by  the 
intervening  agency  of  matter. 

In  healing  the  sick,  He  was  accustomed,  as  we  read  in 
St.  Mark,  to  "  lay  His  hands  upon  them  ;"  and  they  were 
evidently  aware  of  His  sacramental  action.  He  confirmed 
their  ideas  in  a  most  remarkable  manner;  for,  as  the 
sacred  text  tells  us,  "  He  took  the  deaf  and  dumb  man 
apart,  and  putting  His  fingers  into  his  ears,  and  spitting 
touched  his  tongue,  and  looking  up  to  heaven.  He 
groaned,  and  said  to  him  Ephpheta,  which  is  Be  thou 
opened"  (Mark  vii.  33).  And  in  a  still  more  striking 
manner  He  brought  out  this  sacramental  way  of  action 
in  the  cure  of  the  blind  man  recorded  by  St.  John.  For 
"  He  spat  upon  the  ground,  and  made  clay  of  the  spittle, 
and  spread  the  clay  upon  his  eyes,  and  said,  Go  wash  in 
the  pool  of  Siloe  "  (John  ix.  6,  Y). 

Surely  there  must  have  been  some  meaning  attached  to 
this  constant  mode  of  action.  It  would  be  worse  than 
blasphemous  to  assert  that  He  acted  in  this  way  through 
mere  caprice,  or  influenced  by  the  feeling  of  a  common 
juggler,  to  delude  the  senses  of  those  "  who  watched 
Him."  And  what  other  cause  can  reasonably  be  as- 
signed than  to  train  His  disciples  to  mark  the  Divine 
plan  on  which  the  Incarnation  rests,  of  leading  men,  the 
creatures  of  sense,  to  receive  with  child-like  faith  the 
manifestations  of  Infinite  Condescension. 

No  teaching  can  be  conceived  more  in  harmony  with 
this  idea,  than  that  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  expressed 
by  the  Council  of  Trent.  "  A  sacrament,"  according  to 
the  Catechism  of  the  Council,  "is  an  outward  sign, 
which,  in  virtue  of  the  Divine  institution,  not  only 
typifies,  but  actually  works  holiness  and  justice."     Our 


IN   THE   SACRAMENTAL   PRINCIPLE.  109 

Divine  Lord  wrought  cures  not  only  on  the  afflicted  body 
by  means  of  touch  and  other  sensible  acts,  but  taught 
His  disciples,  that  the  ills  of  the  soul  were  to  be  healed 
by  the  same  external  agency.  I  need  not  enter  into  the 
proofs  of  this  position  further  than  to  call  attention  to 
the  instruction  given  by  Him  to  Mcodemus,  on  the 
curative  effects  of  Baptism :  "  Amen,  Amen  I  say  to 
thee,"  are  His  words  to  the  learned  Jewish  doctor,  "  ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God  "  (John  iii.  5).  Nicodemus  understood  these  words 
in  a  carnal  sense,  and  asked  for  an  explanation.  Our 
Lord  gives  it  as  follows :  "  Amen,  Amen  I  say  to  thee, 
unless  any  one  be  born  again  of  water  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  ISTo 
one  can  read  this  passage  without  marking  the  connection 
which  our  Saviour  establishes  between  the  "  weak  and 
needy  element"  of  water,  and  the  omnipotent  Spirit  of 
God ;  water  not  the  sign  only,  but  the  efficient  cause, 
as  well  as  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  effecting  the  "  new  birth," 
or  this  cleansing  the  soul  from  sin. 

K  it  occurs  to  any  one  to  challenge  this  doctrine,  and 
to  endeavor  to  explain  it  in  some  metaphorical  sense,  he 
can  no  more  succeed,  than  if  he  attempted  to  rob  the  ex- 
ternal action  in  the  cure  of  the  blind  man,  of  its  power 
in  effecting  the  cure.  If  he  asserts  that  it  is  absurd  to 
unite  the  material  instrument  of  water  with  the  gift  of 
God,  he  is  met  at  once  by  the  action  of  the  Apostolic 
Church,  which  evidently  connected  with  the  use  of  water 
the  cleansing  of  the  soul  from  sin.  "  See,"  said  the 
Ethiopian  convert  to  Philip  the  Deacon,  "  here  is  water ; 
what  doth  hinder  me  from  being  baptized?"  In  the 
tenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  when  the  unmistakable  signs 
of  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  converted  Gen- 


110  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  DEVELOPED 

tiles  were  clearly  noticed  by  all  present,  St.  Peter  says — 
"  Can  any  man  forbid  water  that  these  should  not  be 
baptized  who  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as 
we?"  (Acts  X.  47.)  Ananias  says  to  St.  Paul,  "  Rise  up, 
and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins"  (Acts  xxii.  16). 

There  are  many  other  texts  bearing  upon  the  same 
point,  but  in  a  work  like  this,  meant  for  the  general  pub- 
lic, it  would  be  out  of  place  to  pile  up  quotations.  He 
'•'  who  runs  may  read  "  that  there  is  abundant  proof  from 
what  I  have  said,  that  our  Divine  Lord  connected  not 
only  the  healing  of  bodily  ills,  but  those  of  the  soul  also, 
with  the  use  of  material  instruments. 

This  is,  the  sacramental  principle,  which,  I  say,  flows 
almost  naturally  and  directly  from  the  proper  under- 
standing of  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation.  We,  by 
means  of  these  "  beggarly  elements"  of  nature,  "  become 
sharers  of  His  Divinity  who  deigned  to  become  a  partaker 
of  our  Humanity." 

The  great  mistake  of  the  so-called  Reformers  consisted 
in  this,  that  they  yielded  to  the  notions  of  that  false 
spiritualism  which,  about  the  period  of  the  uprising 
against  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  affected  so  many 
minds.  They  could  not  see,  or  rather  they  would  not 
see,  that  the  obvious  principle  of  the  sacramental  system, 
as  taught  by  our  Divine  Lord,  was  to  humble  human 
arrogance  and  pride,  and  to  inculcate  the  humiliating 
lesson  that,  as  man  had  ignominiously  delivered  himself 
over  to  the  domain  of  the  baser  world,  so  he  needs  the 
mediation  of  this  earth,  to  rise  above  it.  Hence,  accord- 
ing to  them,  the  sacraments  are  only  pledges  of  the  truth 
of  the  Divine  promises  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  It 
was  too  humiliating  to  believe  that  the  elements  of  matter 
could  have,  even  by  the  Divine  institution,  the  power  to 


IN"  THE   SACRAMENTAL  PRINCIPLE.  Ill 

effect  this  transformation.  But,  if  we  mark  the  use 
made  hj  our  Divine  Lord  of  these  elements,  in  the  re- 
generation of  a  fallen  world,  we  shall  see,  with  a  force 
that  bears  down  all  the  resistance  of  proud  reason,  that 
this  was  actually  an  essential  part  of  the  economy  of 
salvation. 

The  following  eloquent  words  of  Father  Oakley  bring 
this  truth  so  powerfully  before  us,  that  I  prefer  to  quote 
them,  than  to  develop  the  point  myself : 

"  Three  out  of  the  four  great  elements  of  nature  are 
thus  directly  named  in  Scripture,  as  having  been  reclaimed 
from  the  power  of  the  evil  one,  and  consecrated  to  Divine 
uses.  The  water,  once  employed  as  the  terrible  minister 
of  God's  avenging  power  for  the  destruction  of  the 
world,  is  now  converted  into  the  instrument  of  His  sav- 
ing grace ;  the  «^V,  that  treacherous  material  of  the  ^  wind 
and  storm,'  when  collected  and  condensed  into  which  it 
'  fulfils  His  word '  and  desolates  the  smiling  face  of  the 
earth,  enters  within  the  sacred  portals  of  that  holiest  of 
material  temples,  the  Human  Body  of  our  Incarnate 
Lord,  and  reissues  from  it  in  the  Divine  Breath,  which 
imparts  to  the  first  priests  of  the  Church  the  power  to 
forgive  sin  :  the  earth,  doomed  by  the  voice  of  God,  at  the 
Fall  to  yield  the  baneful  fniit  of  the  primeval  curse,  is 
moulded  by  the  plastic  hand  which  made  it  into  a  com- 
post of  sweet  medicinal  virtue.  The  fourth  great  ele- 
ment of  nature  received  its  consecration,  too,  on  the  Day 
of  Pentecost ;  and  when  the  Christian  beholds  that  most 
awful  of  all  the  scourges  of  sin  and  weapons  of  chastise- 
ment, the  material  fire,  he  can  contemplate  it,  not  as  the 
agent  which  swept  from  the  earth  they  polluted,  the 
cities  of  the  plain,  or  which  is  to  burn  up  this  beautiful 
but  devoted  world,  and  itself  to  be  gifted  with  immortal- 


112  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  DEVELOPED. 

ity,  to  the  end  that  it  may  accomplish  God's  purposes 
upon  the  wicked,  but  as  the  substance  which  embodied 
the  great  Pentecostal  gift — the  symbol,  not  of  wrath,  but 
of  the  zeal  of  God,  which  then  heralded  the  conversion 
of  the  world,  and  now  burns  with  bright  innocuous  light 
as  the  watch-fire  of  His  love  before  the  Tabernacle  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament.  Animated  and  invigorated  with  this 
plentiful  benediction  vouchsafed  to  us  in  the  sacraments, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  the  life  of  the  Catholic  Church 
should  be  as  vigorous  now  as  it  was  in  the  beginning." 

I  will  endeavor  to  trace,  in  the  following  chapter,  the 
undying  influence  of  the  sacraments  in  sustaining  the 
spirited  energy  of  those  to  whom  in  a  special  manner  has 
been  committed  her  activity  in  this  world — the  clergy 
and  religious  orders. 


PRACTICAL  ASPECTS  OF  CATHOLIC  CHKlSTlAxNri  Y.  113 


CHAPTER  Y. 

Catholic  Christianity  in  Some  Practical  Aspects. 

"FT  is  chiefly  in  times  of  great  social  cataclysms,  when 
-L  law  and  order  are  for  a  while  overpowered,  and 
men  are  whirled  hither  and  thither  by  the  wild  fury  of 
revolution,  that  the  calm  enduring  spirit  and  determined 
courage  of  Catholic  Christianity  most  strikingly  displays 
itself.  No  one  can  read  the  history  of  the  late  reign 
of  terror  in  Paris,  without  meeting  with  many  episodes 
in  which  the  majestic  character  of  true  religion  shines 
forth  as  brilliantly  as  it  did  when  the  infant  Church  was 
struggling  against  the  persecutions  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
The  Rev.  Father  Perraud,  priest  of  the  Oratory,  at  the 
close  of  his  magnificent  sermon  on  the  martyred  Arch- 
bishop Darboy,  exclaims,  "  Christianity !  verily  and  in- 
deed it  shows  itself  here  as  it  was  wont  to  do  in  the  early 
days  of  its  history.  The  world  has  waned  old,  but 
Christianity  has  not  altered.  It  still  brings  forth  the 
same  faith,  the  same  spirit  of  forbearance,  the  same 
serenity,  the  same  peaceable  and  humble  fortitude. 
Throughout  every  age,  our  martyrs  walk  forth  hand 
in  hand  and  maintain  the  same  tradition."  Whilst  we 
read  the  account  given  of  the  slaughter  of  the  Arch- 
bishop and  his  five  companions,  at  the  prison  of  La 
Roquette,  we  are  carried  back  in  spirit  to  the  days  of  the 
Catacombs. 

Often  it  happened,  in  the  times  of  the  persecution  of 
the   early  Church,  that  the  Catacombs,  the  ordinary  re- 


114  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

fuge  of  the  Christians,  were  rudely  broken  into,  and 
there  in  the  dark  passages,  the  Christians,  unseen  bj  any 
eyes  but  those  of  God  and  His  angels,  were  cruelly  mur- 
dered. The  infuriated  soldiery  found  the  object  of  their 
search  often,  as  in  the  case  of  Pope  Stephen  the  First, 
either  engaged  in  offering  up  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  or 
assisting  at  this  sacred  rite. 

There  is  an  old  inscription,  belonging  to  the  time  of 
Antoninus  Pius,  who  began  to  reign  in  138  a.d.,  which 
brings  all  this  vividly  before  us.  It  records  in  a  very 
beautiful  and  feeling  manner,  tlie  death  of  one  Alexander, 
who  was  slain  as  he  knelt  at  the  altar  about  to  sacrifice, 
and  it  deplores  the  wretched  times,  when  there  was  no 
security  for  the  persecuted  even  in  the  caverns  of  the 
earth,  and  when  their  bodies  were  deprived  of  decent 
burial. 

How  like  is  all  this  to  the  secret  commimion  of  the 
hostages  in  their  prison,  the  Blessed  Sacrament  having 
been  conveyed  to  them  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  attract 
the  notice  of  their  guards ;  and  then  the  secret  death, 
in  the  dark  corner  of  the  winding  alley  between  the 
prison  and  the  outer  rampart,  and  the  mutilated  bodies 
flung  into  a  common  grave ! 

When  in  the  June  of  1875  I  visited  the  present  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris  I  could  not  help  realizing  to  myself,  as  I 
ascended  the  staircase  of  the  palace,  the  scene  enacted  in 
that  very  spot,  when  the  good  and  amiable  Monseigneur 
Darboy  was  dragged  away  a  prisoner  by  a  fiendish  mob. 
What  a  worthy  follower  of  his  Divine  Master  !  I^o  re- 
sistance, no  reproach,  as  calmly  dignified  then,  as  when, 
arm  in  arm  with  his  friend  the  President  Bonjean, 
amidst  the  grossest  insults,  he  proceeded  with  dauntless 
courage  to  the  place  of  execution. 


IN   SOME  PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  115 

It  is  easy  for  natural  courage  to  face  death  bravely  in 
the  battlefield,  or  when  one's  friends  are  near  to  sustain, 
by  tbeir  sympathy,  the  fortitude  of  the  sufferers.  But  it 
is  real  religion  alone  that  enables  its  children  to  go 
forth  serenely,  calmly,  and  with  humble  fortitude,  and 
even  with  a  holy  joy,  when  there  is  no  accusation,  no 
shadow  of  any  crime,  and  death,  violent  and  ignominious 
as  men  can  make  it,  is  robbed  of  every  gleam  of  earthly 
consolation.  So  died  the  brave  Archbishop  and  his 
brave  priests  in  the  prison  of  La  Roquette. 

And  so,  if  God  requires  it,  are  ready  to  die  for  the 
honor  and  glory  of  His  name  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  pious  men  and  women,  who  deem  it  their 
greatest  happiness  to  have  left  all  things  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  who  are  full  of  hope  that  if  they  were 
further  called  to  die  Hke  their  Divine  Master  amidst 
mockery  and  insults,  that  He  would  give  them  the  courage 
and  resolution  to  follow  Him,  bearing  His  cross  to  the 
very  end. 

When  the  Jesuit  Fathers  left  Grahamstown,  in  the 
April  of  1879,  for  the  Yalley  of  the  Zambesi  many 
Protestant  gentlemen  who  had  made  their  acquaintance, 
and  had  learned  to  appreciate  their  splendid  gifts  of  edu- 
cation and  training,  wondered  how  such  men  could  go 
forth  with  joy  and  gladness  into  the  wilderness  to  die  for 
savages,  who  could  never  appreciate  their  worth,  and 
would  never  be  grateful  for  sacrifices  so  great.  The  world 
calls  this  enthusiasm,  or  fanaticism,  or  superstitious  piety  ; 
but  such  is  not  the  estimate  of  Catholic  Christianity. 

The  Catholic  Church  regards  those  ^'to  whom  it  is 
given"  to  accept  so  glorious  a  vocation,  and  to  be  faithful 
to  it  to  the  end,  as  the  chosen  followers  of  the  Crucified, 
to  whom  will  be  secured  for  all  eternity  a  bright  crown 


116  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

of  glorj,  infinitely  surpassing  all  that  this  world  could 
give  them.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  pious  sentimen- 
talism  in  the  men  and  women  whom  our  Divine  Lord 
calls  to  follow  Him,  in  the  path  of  perfect  renunciation. 
There  may  be  a  generous  enthusiasm  or  a  spirit  of  heroic 
devotion  in  the  soul  of  the  young  ecclesiastic  or  the 
young  religious,  who  at  first  feels  the  whisperings  of 
Divine  grace  and  the  interior  call,  "  If  thou  wilt  be  per- 
fect, go,  sell  what  thou  hast,  and  come,  follow  me"  (Matt. 
xix.  21).  But  this  ardent  feeling  soon  settles  down  into 
a  firm  purpose.  Humility,  obedience,  the  renunciation 
of  self,  also  strongly  insisted  on  in  the  training  of  those 
who  desire  to  serve  God  in  the  spirit  of  a  true  vocation, 
leave  no  place,  after  a  time,  for  the  natural  suggestions  of 
unbridled  self -direction. 

This  is  one  of  the  grand  secrets  of  Catholic  Christian- 
ity, not  made  a  secret  by  the  Church,  or  because  she  in 
any  way  conceals  her  doctrine,  but  hidden  from  the  eyes 
of  the  frivolous  and  unbelieving  world.  If  the  novice  per- 
sists in  nursing  a  mere  sentimental  piety,  is  good  only  by 
fits  and  starts,  according  as  the  natural  feelings  are  swayed 
by  motions  congenial  to  them,  is  hurt  by  trials  of  obedi- 
ence and  humiliations,  is  always  cherishing  the  pseudo- 
martyr  spirit,  and  grieving,  and  "  looking  back,"  the  trial 
of  earnestness  will  in  time  manifest  the  absence  of  the 
right  spirit.  Sooner  or  later,  the  Superior  wiU,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  a  most  important  duty,  rendered  imperative  by 
the  strict  discipline  of  the  Church,  have  to  say,  "  '  No  man 
putting  his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking  back,  is  fit 
for  the  kingdom  of  God'  [Luke  ix.  62].  In  the  name  of 
God,  return  to  the  world,  you  may  serve  Him  there  with 
fidelity.  He  has  not  called  you  to  follow  Him  in  the  state 
of  reHgious  perfection." 


IN   SOME   PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  117 

It  is  the  absolute  ignorance  which  prevails  outside  the 
CathoKc  Church,  and  amongst  uninstructed  and  worldly- 
minded  Catholics  of  the  nature  and  obligations  of  a  real 
vocation,  that  creates  such  false  impressions  about  the 
manner  in  which  Superiors  deal  with  young  people  who 
beheve  they  are  called  to  leave  all  things  and  follow 
Christ.  They  will  say  for  example,  that  it  is  wrong  in 
those,  who  ought  to  understand  the  rash  impulses  of 
youth  to  encourage  sucli  an  impression.  Parents  will  feel 
aggrieved  that  their  "  hope  and  pride"  and  comfort  in 
this  world  have  abandoned  them.  And  there  will  be  any 
amount  of  real  or  affected  sympathy  amongst  friends  for 
the  young  person,  who  promised  to  be  so  great  an  orna- 
ment to  society,  and  who  is  now  "  shut  up"  in  a  convent 
or  a  seminary.  But  if  the  vocation  prove  a  real  one,  if 
the  true  gold  manifests  itself  in  the  crucible  of  the  Novi- 
tiate, how  misplaced  is  all  this  false  sympathy,  and  how 
serious  is  the  position  before  God  of  those,  who  have  pre- 
sumed to  stand  between  Him  and  the  object  of  His  fond- 
est love !  No  wonder  that  the  Church,  while  she  warns 
under  pain  of  her  severest  censures  all  Superiors  to  prove 
and  test  with  the  greatest  care  the  reality  of  a  vocation, 
excommunicates  whoever  will  dare  knowingly  and  wil- 
fully to  interfere  with  the  firm  purpose  of  those  who 
believe,  with  the  approval  of  their  spiritual  director,  that 
they  have  been  really  invited  by  God  to  leave  the  world 
and  to  enter  into  His  service. 

It  is  the  same  ignorance  of  the  spirit  and  hidden  hfe 
of  a  good  priest  or  fervent  religious,  which  disposes  the 
public  at  once  to  take  up  any  tale  of  scandal  that  is  pro- 
pagated by  the  enemies  of  the  Church.  Sensational 
stories  of  the  "Maria  Monk"  style  will  be  read  with 
avidity  by  thousands,  who  would  regard  it,  as  an  intoler- 


118  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

able  bore,  to  bear  or  read  anything  that  Catholicity  has 
to  say  about  the  excellence  of  the  religious  life,  or  the 
sublime  character  of  the  priesthood.  They  have  made 
up  their  minds  that  the  state  of  those  whose  "  solicitude," 
as  St.  Paul  expresses  it,  is  only  "  for  the  things  tliat  be- 
long to  the  Lord,  how  they  may  please  God  "  (1  Cor. 
vii.  32),  is  an  unnatural  state,  and  that  the  life  of  nuns 
and  priests  who  do  not  marry  is  something  too  ex- 
alted for  ordinary  mortals.  So  when  one  of  these  base 
publications,  issued  by  persons,  who  rely  for  their  gain  on 
the  credulity  and  vitiated  and  prurient  taste  of  the  igno- 
rant and  fanatical  rabble,  comes  within  their  reach,  they 
eagerly  devour  the  sickening  details,  not  perhaps  for  the 
gratification  of  sensual  curiosity  so  much  as  to  prove  the 
correctness  of  their  estimate  of  humanity.  And  never 
doubting  of  the  truth  of  the  narrative,  or  questioning  its 
credibility,  they  at  once  congratulate  themselves  on  the 
soundness  of  their  judgment.  "  It  is  only,"  they  say, "  what 
might  be  expected ;  human  nature  is  human  nature  all  the 
world  over,  and  people  who  aim  at  heights  beyond  their 
fellows  must  expect  sooner  or  later  an  ignominious  fall." 
How  little  do  they,  who  think,  or  speak  thus,  know  of  the 
ways  of  God  !  How  completely  ignorant  are  they  of  the 
very  elements  of  a  life  really  and  wholly  devoted  to  God, 
who  entertain  seriously  these  ignoble,  low,  and  vulgar 
sentiments ! 

They  who  are  really  called  to  follow  their  Divine 
Model  in  the  way  of  genuine  self-renunciation,  under- 
stand better  than  any  one  else  that  "the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  suffers  violence,  and  that  the  violent  only  attain 
to  it."  They  know  that  "to  make  their  calling  and 
election  sure,"  they  must  "  work  out  their  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling  ; "  they  must  "  watch  and  pray,"  and 


IN   SOME  PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  119 

"  be  never  weary."  Thej  feel  that  their  very  profession 
exposes  them,  more  than  ordinary  Christians,  to  the  as- 
saults of  temptation ;  and  so  they  constantly  "  strive"  to 
be  found  wortliy  to  enter  the  narrow  way  that  leads  to 
life.  This  thorough  conviction  of  their  own  natural 
weakness  and  unworthiness  of  the  Divine  predilection  is 
the  very  groundwork  of  the  whole  spiritual  life.  With- 
out this  real  and  practical  belief,  that  it  is  God  alone 
who  can  make  that  possible,  which  is  beyond  the  powers 
of  nature,  and  who  "  will  perfect  the  good  work  which 
He  has  begun"  in  them,  they  would  be  building  their 
spiritual  edifice  on  sand,  or  something  as  frothy  and  un- 
stable as  mere  emotional  sentimentalism. 

Worldly  people  are  apt  to  think  that  the  religious  dress, 
and  the  open  profession  to  live  for  God  alone,  must 
carry  with  it  a  sense  of  pharisaical  pride  ;  but  never  was 
there  so  great  a  mistake.  Priests  and  rehgious  know  well 
that  they  are  not  better  than  others,  by  the  fact  of  hav- 
ing been  called  to  a  more  perfect  state.  This  gratuitous 
grace  of  a  vocation  has  been  bestowed  upon  them,  not 
on  account  of  any  merits  of  their  own,  but  through  God's 
pure  mercy ;  and  they  clearly  understand  that  "  to  whom 
much  is  given,  from  them  much  will  be  expected."  In 
taking  on  them  the  yoke  of  religion  and  the  livery  of 
Christ,  they  have  in  reality  only  taken  up  the  cross,  and 
the  aim  of  their  lives  must  be  to  follow  humbly  in  His 
footsteps,  who  bore  it  in  the  midst  of  ignominy  and  in- 
sult. The  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  much 
misunderstood  subject  of  "vocation"  is  so  clearly  and 
beautifully  expressed  by  Father  Oakley,  in  his  admirable 
little  book,  "  The  Church  of  the  Bible,"  that  I  cannot 
forbear  giving  an  extract : 

"  All  Christians  are  '  called  to  be  saints '  (1  Cor.  i.  2). 


120  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

All  are  called  to  a  state  of  perfection  (Matt.  v.  48),  but 
not  all  to  the  same  state.  There  are  divers  '  mansions ' 
in  the  earthly  as  in  the  heavenly  kingdom  of  God ;  vari- 
ous grades  of  merit  in  the  one  as  of  glory  in  the  other ; 
different  stages  or  elevations  of  spiritual  and  moral 
responsibility,  opportunity,  and  desert.  Each  of  these 
states  has  its  own  proper  'element,'  which  to  such  as 
are  created  for  it,  is  congenial ;  and  to  such  as  are  not, 
is  oppressive  if  too  high — meagre  and  unsatisfactory,  if 
too  low.  If  those  who  are  called  to  a  lower  level  of  per- 
fection, find  themselves  perchance  in  a  higher,  they  are 
like  creatures  of  earth,  when  suddenly  brought  into  the 
highly  rarefied  atmosphere  of  some  lofty  mountain.  They 
are  distressed,  and  at  length  they  droop  and  drop.  Souls 
cannot  rise  above  their  proper  spiritual  level.  They 
whose  place  is  the  more  elevated  region  of  responsibility 
can  live  indeed,  in  the  lower ;  but  their  powers  of  action 
are  cramped,  and  the  true  end  of  their  being  is  thwarted, 
if  not  frustrated.  It  is  in  the  body  spiritual  as  in  the 
body  social  and  political.  One  has  his  gift  after  this  man- 
ner, and  another  after  that.  Some  are,  as  we  say,  '  born 
to  great  things,'  manifesting  even  in  childhood,  the  germ 
of  their  future  proficiency.  The  Christian  warfare,  like 
the  battlefield  of  nations,  has  its  heroes,  and  when  such 
as  are  born  to  heroic  distinction,  are  employed  in  a  lim- 
ited sphere  of  action,  we  say  that  they  are  '  out  of  their 
place.'  Thus  in  the  Church :  the  vocation  of  some  is  to 
marry,  of  others  to  remain  unmarried ;  of  some  to  quit 
the  world,  of  others  to  mix  with  it  for  its  advantage ;  of 
some  to  give  the  superfluity  of  their  wealth  to  God  and 
the  poor,  of  others  '  to  leave  all  that  they  possess '  for 
the  higher  departments  of  the  Christian  service ;  of  some 
to  cultivate  the  temper  of  obedience  with  a  proper  reserve 


IN   SOME  PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  121 

in  fa^or  of  their  own  judgment,  of  others  to  resign  their 
conscience  into  another's  keeping  in  all  that  is  not  mani- 
fest sin.  This  is  the  Church's  doctrine ;  and  it  is  most 
obviously  and  unquestionably  borne  out  by  the  very  letter 
of  the  Bible." 

If  this  doctrine  were  clearly  understood,  it  would  ex- 
plain much  that  is  marvellous  in  the  ordinary  life  of 
Catholic  Christianity.  "  How,"  it  is  constantly  said  in 
this  colony,  as  it  is  said  elsewhere, — "  how  do  priests  get 
on  with  their  churches  and  institutions  ?  How  are  nuns 
able  to  build  their  convents  and  develop  their  schools  ? 
Their  people  are  generally  poor,  and  yet  they  invariably 
succeed." 

The  answer  is  plain  to  any  one  of  ordinary  penetration. 
They  succeed,  because  it  is  their  special  work,  the  work 
to  which  they  believe  they  have  been  called ;  and  their 
hearts  and  souls  are,  as  a  rule,  concentrated  in  this  work. 
They  are  thoroughly  in  earnest,  just  as  much  as  worldly 
people  are  to  make  a  fortune,  and  be  successful  in  life. 
If  the  work  which  they  set  before  them  is  within  their 
means,  if  it  has  been  prudently  and  wisely  undertaken, 
it  is  bound  to  go  through.  If  not  within  the  lifetime  of 
this  priest  or  that  superior,  it  will  be  accomplished  by 
some  one  else  who  will  take  it  up  in  the  same  spirit 
and  carry  it  through  as  a  matter  of  course. 

"  How  is  it,"  again  it  will  be  said,  "  with  this  Eeligious 
order  ;  it  is  always  in  trouble,  always  persecuted,  always 
abused  and  hated  by  the  world,  and  yet  it  iiourishes  ?" 
In  fact  we  may  put  those  expressions  of  wonderment  in 
the  very  words  of  the  Apostle — "  As  dying  and  behold 
we  live ;  as  chastised  and  not  killed ;  as  sorrowful,  yet 
always  rejoicing  :  as  needy,  yet  enriching  many  ;  as  hav- 
ing nothing  and  possessing  all  things"     (2  Cor.  vi.  9, 


122  CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

10).  That  one  answer,  already  given,  explains  every- 
thing. Tliey  seriously  and  deliberately  believe  with 
entire  conviction,  that  they  have  been  called  to  this  par- 
ticular state,  and  that  nothing  happens  to  them,  while  they 
are  endeavoring  to  fulfil  its  duties  and  obligations,  but 
by  the  Divine  appointment.  Therefore  such  as  these 
can  say  with  the  Apostle,  "  In  all  things  we  suffer  tribu- 
lation, but  are  not  distressed ;  we  are  straitened,  but  are 
not  destitute ;  we  suffer  persecution,  but  we  are  not  for- 
saken ;  we  are  cast  down,  but  we  perish  not"  (2  Cor. 
iv.  8,  9). 

Here  lies  the  secret  of  the  vigorous  life  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  If  for  a  moment  we  do  not  attend  to  the  su- 
pernatural inner  life  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  animating  the 
entire  body  of  the  Church,  we  shall  see  that  all  her 
priests  and  Religious  are  individually  called  to  do  God's 
own  work  in  God's  own  way. 

There  is  no  sentimental  straining  after  this  idea.  It  is 
a  settled  and  sure  conviction  in  the  inmost  soul  of  every 
one,  who  has  received  the  grace  of  a  Vocation  to  the  sacred 
ministry,  or  to  serve  God  alone  in  the  Rehgious  life ;  and 
therefore  in  whatever  is  undertaken  purely  and  simply 
for  God,  they  believe  they  must  be  successful,  not  in- 
deed successful  in  the  sense  in  which  this  word  is  under- 
stood generally,  not  that  the  work  will  be  carried  through 
so  as  to  gain  the  applause  of  men,  or  fully  and  fairly  ac- 
complished by  energy  and  perseverance ;  but  that  it  will 
be  done  in  the  manner  God  wills  it  to  be  done,  and  with 
that  amount  of  satisfactory  results  which  He  is  pleased 
to  accord  to  it. 

This  is  one  reason  why  the  Church  must  ever  and 
always  be  victorious  in  her  struggle  with  the  world. 
The  spirit  never  dies  in  those  to  whom  her  interests  are 


IN    SOME    PRACTICAL    ASPECTS.  123 

chiefly  committed.  During  the  three  hundred  years,  the 
Church  battled  with  the  power  of  Imperial  Rome,  and 
throughout  all  the  fearful  persecutions  of  the  Pagan 
Caesars,  though  swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
compelled  to  hide  its  head  in  the  caverns  of  the  dead,  its 
spirit  was  irrepressible.  The  successors  of  St.  Peter, 
from  the  depths  of  the  Catacombs,  ruled  the  Faithful 
spread  throughout  the  vast  provinces  of  the  empire,  sent 
forth  Bishops  and  devoted  Missionaries,  who  contrived 
to  fulfil  their  arduous  duties  in  the  very  palaces  and 
courts  of  their  persecutors ;  so  that,  when  peace  came  at 
last,  it  was  found  that  baffled  and  discomfited  paganism 
preserved  only  the  mere  external  signs  of  a  worthless 
and  hollow  existence. 

I  would  call  special  attention  to  this  persistent  and 
unyielding  spirit  of  Catholic  Christianity.  It  is  always 
the  same.  Persecution  may  for  a  time  retard  its  prog- 
ress. Generation  after  generation  may  see  it  as  if  thrown 
back,  defeated  and  powerless,  and  notice  that  its  sphere  of 
action  is  growing  narrower  and  more  circumscribed  ;  but 
it  lives  all  the  time  with  the  immortal  life  and  spirit  in- 
fused into  it  by  its  Founder ;  and,  when  the  pressure  is 
removed,  it  bursts  forth  again  in  all  its  vigor. 

Look  at  Ireland,  when  Catholic  Emancipation  broke 
the  chains  of  the  most  oppressive  penal  code  that  ever 
fettered  religious  liberty.  Notwithstanding  her  poverty, 
and  the  crushing  weight  of  debt  and  taxation  heaped 
upon  her  by  the  "  Union,"  in  less  than  half  a  century,  the 
whole  land  was  covered  with  beautiful  churches,  and  con- 
vents, and  Catholic  Institutions  of  every  kind,  that  excite 
the  wonder  and  admiration  of  every  stranger  who  visits 
her  shores.  There  was  nothing  violent  or  spasmodic  in 
all  this.     It  was  a  steady  healthy  growth,  that  showed  it- 


124  CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

self  throughout  the  whole  island,  as  soon  as  the  restrictions 
were  removed. 

I  believe  that  every  honest  man,  who  is  not  the  uncon- 
scious slave  of  tyrannical  prejudices,  and  whose  percep- 
tions are  not  hopelessly  dimmed  and  overshadowed  by 
bigoted  misrepresentation,  must  see  in  this  constant  growth 
and  development,  when  circumstances  are  even  in  the 
least  degree  favorable,  a  power  that  manifests  its  Divine 
origin.  It  is  not  in  ordinary  nature  to  sustain  itself  thus 
for  long  centuries  of  cruel  oppression,  and  to  live  with 
unfailing  vigor,  while  every  evil  influence  that  could, 
humanly  speaking,  blight  and  poison  its  existence,  was 
at  work  to  destroy  it ;  and  then,  at  the  first  appearance  of 
a  fair  season,  to  rise  up  as  it  were  with  giant  growth,  and 
push  forth  its  branches  and  flowers  and  fruits,  with  an 
energy  that  seems  all  the  greater  from  being  restrained 
and  crushed  down  for  such  a  length  of  time. 

If  we  ask  ourselves  why  is  there  this  marked  difference 
between  "  the  everlasting  Church,"  and  all  other  Institu- 
tions in  the  world — that,  whereas  the  latter  soon  perish 
and  become  extinct  under  long-continued  adversity,  the 
Catholic  Church  acquires  new  life  and  strength  from  the 
worst  forms  of  persecution,  we  can  only  answer  that  the 
life  and  soul  and  spirit  of  the  Church  is  the  immortal 
Spirit  of  God  Himself.  This  constant  indwelling  of  the 
Spirit  of  Truth  is  a  "fountain  of  water  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life;"  and  when  the  invigorating  waters, 
meant  in  Divine  mercy  to  be  poured  out  upon  the  na- 
tions, are  dammed  up  by  the  perverse  ingenuity  of  man, 
and  the  powers  of  hell,  they  naturally  fertilize  the  Church 
herself,  and  gather  strength  for  the  day  of  deliverance. 

But,  if  considering  further  that  the  Church  is  a  society 
composed  of  individual  human  beings,  we  ask  ourselves 


IN   SOME   PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  125 

how  is  the  Divine  Kf e  communicated  to  every  member ; 
how  are  Catholics  sustained  in  the  varied  conflicts  often 
so  painful  and  trying  to  weak  human  nature,  we  then 
behold,  in  all  its  beauty,  the  plan  contrived  by  Infinite 
Wisdom  and  Love  to  preserve  even  the  weakest  of  her 
children,  Tvho  will  obey  her  voice  and  look  up  to  her  with 
confidence  and  respect.  It  was  not  enough  to  satisfy  the 
care  of  our  Divine  Kedeemer,  that  aU  who  "  believe  in 
Him  and  keep  His  word "  should  be  comforted  and  sus- 
tained by  the  "  rock"  and  "  pillar  and  ground  of  truth," 
it  did  not  satisfy  His  compassionate  love  to  unfold,  in  the 
beautiful  and  touching  parables  of  the  Gospel,  how  "the 
good  Shepherd  "  cared  for  the  weak  and  little  ones  of  the 
fold.  These  consoling  proofs  of  the  largeness  of  His 
paternal  heart  might  seem  too  vague  and  indefinite ;  and 
therefore  He  gave  us  all  a  sensible  pledge  and  assurance 
of  an  intimate  union  with  Himself  in  the  Holy  Commu- 
nion. He  Himself  would  abide  forever  with  each  of  us 
who  desired  it,  under  the  appearance  of  our  ordinary 
food,  to  be  our  helper  in  the  hour  of  trial,  and  to  make 
us  feel  and  know  beyond  all  doubt,  that  we  were  individu- 
ally sharers  in  His  Divinity,  and  therefore  able  to  en- 
counter all  the  evils  and  dangers  with  which  earth  and 
hell  could  threaten  us. 

I  know  it  must  be  difficult  for  those  who  are  not 
Catholics  to  realize  to  themselves  anything  like  this 
Catholic  Christianity,  so  strikingly  brought  forth  in  the 
abiding  presence  of  our  Saviour  in  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment. They  have  been  taught  to  regard  it  as  some- 
thing absurd,  impossible,  and  contradictory.  But,  if, 
with  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation, 
contemplating  God  made  manifest  in  the  flesh,  receiving 
at  it  were  the  Child  Jesus  from  the  hands  of  the  Virgin- 


126  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Mother,  and  like  tlie  happy  Simeon,  holding  in  their 
arms  "  their  salvation,"  they  tried  to  picture  to  themselves 
the  Catholic  doctrine,  they  would,  I  believe,  be  forced,  in 
spite  of  themselves  and  their  prejudices,  to  exclaim — 
"  How  beautiful !  How  Divine  !  Oh  that  such  a  Faith 
could  be  a  reahty  !  If  Catholics  do  indeed  believe  with 
a  firm  and  undoubting  faith,  that  they  actually  embrace 
their  Saviour,  and  are  made  one  with  Him,  then  indeed  it 
is  no  wonder  that  the  Saints  and  MartjTs  had  courage 
and  strength  to  suffer  all  torments  and  persecutions  for 
the  sake  of  Christ ;  and  that  they,  who  receive  a  special 
call  to  follow  Him,  are  able  effectually  to  renounce  all 
things — and  attach  themselves  entirely  to  Him." 

It  is  easy  for  the  greatest  stranger  to  Catholic  truth, 
the  moment  he  has  caught  a  glimpse  of  this  mystery,  to 
understand  that  the  good  priest  must  be  ever  ready  to 
give  his  life  for  the  flock ;  that  he  heeds  not  the  dread 
plague,  nor  the  danger  of  infection  from  deadly  fever  or 
pestilence,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  It  is  only  natural, 
he  will  admit,  that  the  earnest  Religious,  and  the  fervent 
nun,  must,  with  a  firm  belief  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
enjoy  a  Paradise  on  earth.  How  delightful  to  be  able  at 
any  time  to  go  before  the  Tabernacle,  and  with  the  eyes 
of  Faith  to  behold  Jesus  Himself  watching  and  waiting 
and  welcoming  those  who  come  to  visit  Him.  If  I  might 
venture  to  lift  a  little  the  veil  that  hides  the  interior  life 
not  only  of  the  fervent  priest  or  nun,  but  of  the  good 
pious  Catholic,  who  tries,  in  the  midst  of  a  busy  world, 
and  many  pressing  cares  and  solicitudes,  to  live  and  walk 
in  God's  Holy  Presence,  how  wonderful  it  would  all 
seem  to  those,  who  have  been  taught  to  regard  Our  Holy 
Eehgion  as  a  mass  of  silly  superstitions !  The  morning 
meditation,  the  Colloquy  of  the  Soul  with  God,  the  pious 


IN   SOME   PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  127 

affections  and  desires,  the  practical  resolutions  ;  then  the 
Holy  Mass,  and  the  transports  of  loving  confidence,  as  the 
inward  cry  goes  up — "  Look  on  the  face  of  Thy  Christ,  and 
for  His  sake  have  mercy" — all  these  thoughts  should,  if  he 
once  allowed  the  possibility  of  their  truth  to  come  near 
him,  fill  his  soul  with  reverent  admiration. 

With  what  a  new  meaning  the  "  Kyrie  eleison^^  and 
the  "Agnus  Dei^''  and  the  "  Gloria  in  excelsis^''  known 
before  only  perhaps  in  their  musical  associations,  fiash 
upon  the  soul  of  a  stranger  to  our  Faith,  as,  helped  by  the 
Incarnation,  bearing,  as  I  have  imagined  it,  the  Divine 
Infant  in  his  arms,  he  catches  just  a  passing  vision  of  the 
sublime  grandeur  of  Cathohc  Christianity.  "With  what 
awe  would  not  such  a  one,  while  under  these  impressions 
enter  into  a  Catholic  Church,  where,  by  the  light  burning 
before  the  altar,  he  knows  the  Blessed  Sacrament  is  pre- 
served. Do  not  the  words  of  Holy  Writ  occur  to  him — 
"  How  terrible  is  this  place !  This  is  no  other  but  the 
house  of  God  and  the  gate  of  Heaven  "  (Gen.  xxviii.  17)  ? 

How  different  are  the  ceremonies,  and  the  Vestments, 
and  so  many  things  about  the  Sanctuary,  that  once  per- 
haps excited  only  feelings  of  pity  and  contempt  for 
Catholics,  when  they  are  seen  by  the  light  of  even  one  ray 
of  Faith  in  the  Real  Presence  !  I  can  well  imagine  the 
sense  of  shame  and  confusion,  that  must  overwhelm  a  well- 
ordered  mind  and  an  honest  nature,  as  it  allows  the  dread 
thought  to  enter — "  What  if  this  Religion,  which  I  once 
fancied  to  be  so  silly  and  puerile,  should  be  the  only  true 
Religion !  Certainly  it  was  once  the  only  Faith  of  the 
whole  Christian  world." 

There  cannot  be  a  reasonable  doubt,  from  the  con- 
struction of  the  chapels  in  the  Catacombs,  and  the  inscrip- 
tions to  be  found  there,  that  the  Mass  was  celebrated  in 


128  CATHOLIC   CHKISTIANITY 

these  vaults :  and  that  men  and  women  knelt  around  an 
altar,  "  whence,"  as  St.  Augustine  expresses  it,  "  was  dis- 
pensed that  Holy  Yictim,  Who  has  cancelled  the  hand- 
writing that  stood  against  us." 

In  the  subterranean  Church  of  St.  Clement's,  may  be 
seen,  represented  in  the  old  frescos,  unmistakable  by 
the  inscriptions,  Clement  himself,  who  conversed  with 
St.  Peter,  clad  in  the  same  shaped  Yestments  worn  now 
by  priests  at  Mass,  and  standing  at  an  altar,  with  his  face 
turned  towards  it,  and  away  from  the  people.  It  is  not 
therefore,  as  non-Catholics  represent  it,  a  new  rite  un- 
known in  Apostolic  times.  It  is  certainly,  as  shown  by 
these  venerable  monuments,  which  speak  for  them- 
selves, more  than  seventeen  hundred  years  ago,  when  the 
Mass  was  celebrated  with  lamps  and  lights  and  other 
symbols  of  Faith  and  piety.  How  overpowering  too  is 
the  testimony  of  the  ancient  Liturgies,  still  preserved  in 
all  their  integrity,  scarcely  committed  to  writing  during 
the  three  hundred  years  of  persecution,  when  the  ''  Dis- 
cipline of  the  secret"  was  in  force,  and  everything  con- 
nected with  the  Divine  worship  was  carefully  concealed 
from  the  prying  eyes  of  irreverent  Pagans,  and  in  con- 
sequence differing  in  form  for  each  great  Church,  yet 
when  compared  agreeing  perfectly  in  substance,  and  all 
testifying  to  the  fact,  that,  in  the  days  of  Constantine, 
Christians  worshipped  as  Catholics  do  now.  When  by 
the  edict  of  the  first  Christian  emperor,  the  Church  was 
allowed  to  come  forth  from  its  hiding-places,  and  to  erect 
Basilicas  and  large  buildings  for  the  assembly  of  the 
Faithful,  they  assisted  at  a  sacrifice,  which  they  believed 
to  be  the  very  same  as  that  of  Calvary ;  in  which,  as  in 
the  Holy  Mass  of  the  present  time,  the  real  Body  and 
Blood  of   Jesus  Christ  were  offered  up,  to  apply  the 


IN   SOME   PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  129 

merits  of  Christ's  death  for  the  benefit  of  the  worship- 
pers and  their  deceased  relatives  and  friends,  and  then 
communicated,  by  the  hands  of  the  priest,  to  those  who 
desired  to  receive  the  Heavenly  Gift. 

These  are  I  believe  the  considerations  that  must  pass 
through  the  mind  of  a  fairly  educated  non-Catholic, 
who  is  tolerably  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the 
early  Christian  times.  And,  if,  as  I  suppose,  he  en- 
deavors while  he  reads,  to  keep  before  his  eyes  the  great 
mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  as  it  was  brought  before 
the  shepherds  in  the  stable  of  Bethlehem,  he  cannot 
help  but  see,  in  the  worship  of  the  Catholic  Church 
and  her  sacraments,  the  almost  necessary  complement 
of  this  fundamental  article  of  Christian  Belief. 

Slight  and  imperfect  as  this  brief  glance  may  be,  at 
the  real  nature  of  Catholic  Christianity  in  its  outward 
worship,  and  external  ceremonial,  it  is  enough  to  in- 
dicate the  undying  energy  and  the  sound  vitality  which 
must  animate  the  children  of  the  Church,  while  they 
receive  with  docility  and  respect  the  teaching  of  their 
venerable  mother. 

It  would  only  encumber  this  chapter  if  I  were  to  point 
out  more  clearly  how  the  seven  sacraments  are  intimately 
connected  with  the  one  great  sacrament  of  the  'New 
Law — the  Incarnation.  If  it  be  once  understood,  that  the 
Incarnation  is  a  reality ;  in  other  words,  that  the  Eternal 
Word  "  by  Whom  all  things  were  made,"  at  a  certain 
definite  time,  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  was 
born  into  this  world,  had  a  mother  who  gave  to  Him  her 
flesh  and  blood,  and  nursed  and  suckled  Him,  and  watched 
over  Him  in  the  years  of  helpless  infancy,  and  brought 
Him  up  to  manhood  ;  if  it  be  firmly  believed  that  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  Mary,  is  one  individual  person  with 


130  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIATSriTY 

God  the  Son,  as  truly  and  as  perfectly  God  as  He  is 
man ;  tliat  this  Person  suffered  in  His  soul  and  Body,  and 
died  upon  the  cross,  then  I  maintain  that  there  cannot 
be  a  shadow  of  reasonable  difficulty  in  believing  what  the 
Church  has  ever  taught  concerning  the  Blessed  Eucharist. 
The  real  presence  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  in  the 
Mass  and  Holy  Communion  is  nothing  more  or  less  than 
the  wonderful  means  by  which  the  fruits  of  the  Atone- 
ment have  been,  from  the  night  of  the  Last  Supper,  are 
now,  and  will  be  to  the  end  of  time,  brought  home  to 
the  hearts  of  believers  who  will  only  "  prove  themselves," 
and  worthily  partake  of  these  Heavenly  favors. 

This  short  sketch  in  bare  outline  of  Catholic  Belief,  in 
its  most  essential  attributes,  provided  it  be  calmly  and 
seriously  examined,  will  satisfy  any  reasonable  non- 
Catholic,  that  there  is  reason  for  the  hope,  that  burns 
brightly  in  the  soul  of  every  faithful  member  of  this 
great  body,  that  as  the  Church  has  triumphed  over  the 
heresies  and  errors  of  past  ages,  so  will  it,  in  God's  own 
good  time,  prevail  over  the  wild  theories  of  present  Un- 
belief. Men  who  firmly  believe  that  God  Incarnate  is 
with  them  in  all  their  ways,  ever  near  them,  ready  to  be 
made  one  with  them  whenever  they  desire  it,  '^  Christi- 
pheroV^  or  Christ-bearers,  as  St.  Cyril  loved  to  call  his 
people,  must  be  invincible  forever.  Ridicule,  blasphemy, 
outspoken  contempt  of  God  and  Holy  things,  will  only 
kindle  more  and  more  the  Faith  of  those  who,  in  obedi- 
ence to  our  Divine  Lord,  "  hear  the  Church,"  and  learn 
from  her  lips  what  they  are  to  believe  about  every  tittle 
of  the  Divine  Message.  Every  insult  and  injury  offered 
by  Unbelievers  to  Christ  and  His  work  in  this  world,  can 
have  no  other  effect  than  to  make  us  love  Him  more  and 
more,  Who,  for  us  men  and  our  salvation,  came  down 


IN  SOME  PRACTICAL   ASPECTS.  131 

from  Heaven  and  dwelt  among  ns  once  in  the  visible 
flesh :  and  now  is  seen,  by  the  eye  of  Faith,  abiding  with 
lis,  walking  in  our  midst,  and  touching  us  with  His  heal- 
ing hand  in  all  the  sacraments. 

In  the  next  chapter,  I  mean  to  show  that,  with  all  its 
supernatural  helps,  the  Church  is  composed  of  men,  and 
not  of  angels ;  and  that  we  must  always,  in  considering 
its  action  and  progress,  regard  this  human  element,  as 
God  regards  it,  with  patience  and  compassion. 


132       A   GLIMPSE  OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 


CHAPTER  YI. 

A  Glimpse   of  Catholic   Christianity  as  seen  by 

Faith. 

I  HA  YE  already  in  Chapter  III.  noticed  in  passing,  a 
clever  ad  kominem  argument  against  the  eternity 
of  punishment,  and  it  may  be  as  well  to  develop  it  in 
connection  with  the  imperfections  of  practical  Faith  in 
the  consoling  mysteries  of  Catholic  Christianity,  which 
will  form  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter. 

Men  who  combat  the  eternal  and  awful  sanction  of  the 
Divine  Law,  say  this  dogma,  that  the  wicked  will  burn 
forever  and  ever,  cannot  be  true,  because  no  one  actually 
and  really  believes  it.  Just  picture  to  yourselves,  they 
say  to  the  pubKc,  what  it  is  to  suffer  in  a  roasting  fire, 
even  for  the  few  moments  that  life  could  endure  so  hor- 
rible a  torment,  imagine  that  in  some  extraordinary 
way,  life  is  sustained  for  hours,  and  days,  and  years,  and 
ages,  and  milhons  of  ages,  and  you  will  find  that  the 
mind  breaks  down  in  the  attempt  to  conceive  so  terrible 
an  evil.  Suppose  that  you  prolong  the  torture  only  for 
some  limited  period — for  a  year  or  two,  and  that  it  is  not 
a  human  being,  but  some  brute  animal  that  suffers,  why 
the  heart  sickens  and  the  brain  reels  at  the  horrible  idea. 
Surely,  they  conclude,  it  has  never  entered  into  your  mind 
to  conceive  the  possibihty  of  a  fate  so  terrible  being 
actually  endured  by  some  one  dear  to  you.  The  bare 
thought  of  anything  so  dreadful  would  destroy  e very- 
germ  of  eaxtlily  comfort  and  happiness.    You  would  have 


AS  SEEN   BY   FAITH.  133 

constantly  before  your  imagination,  day  and  night,  the 
shrieks  of  the  unfortunate  victim.  You  could  not  sleep, 
you  could  not  take  your  meals,  you  would  go  mad.  But 
none  of  these  effects  are  noticeable  even  in  pious  Chris- 
tians. There  is  no  case  on  record  where  belief  in  the 
eternity  of  punishment  has  produced  these  effects,  and 
consequently  people  only  say  that  they  hold  this  belief ; 
it  is  impossible  that  it  could  be  a  settled  conviction. 

I  have  put  the  argument  as  forcibly  as  I  could,  because 
it  is  dangerously  insidious  particularly  to  weak,  and 
unenlightened,  and  unreflecting  Faith.  The  answer  to  it 
will  involve  the  answer  to  the  objection  which  I  mean  to 
meet  in  this  chapter. 

In  the  first  place  then,  this  application  of  the  properties 
of  a  material  tire,  this  "  roasting,"  etc.,  to  the  tire  of  hell, 
is  not  sanctioned  by  any  definition  of  the  Church.  The 
Church  does  not  anywhere  teach  in  precise  terms  that 
there  is  an  eternal  fire  in  the  sense  in  which  infidel  writers 
make  it  the  object  of  their  abuse  and  denunciation.  She 
teaches  indeed  that  there  is  an  eternal  pain  of  "  sense," 
as  well  as  an  eternal  pain  of  "  loss"  for  those  who,  by 
their  own  most  grievous  fault,  and  by  the  voluntary  and 
deliberate  abuse  of  their  free-will,  have  obstinately  re- 
nounced God  and  the  future  glory  which  He  so  freely 
offers  us.  Whenever  she  speaks  of  the  sad  fate  of  the 
reprobate,  she  uses  the  terrible  words  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures— "  Depart  ye  accursed  into  everlasting  fire"  (Matt. 
XXV.  41).  But  she  has  never  declared  that  we  are  to 
understand  this  "  fire"  as  meaning  a  fire  like  that  to  which 
we  are  accustomed  in  this  world.  Holy  writers  treating 
on  the  subject  tell  us,  that  the  fire  in  hell  is  created  only 
for  torment,  and  not  for  any  of  the  purposes  to  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  apply  it  in  this  world.     And  we  know 


134      A   GLIMPSE  OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIAKITY 

that  it  must  possess  peculiar  properties  incompatible  with 
the  fire  that  cooks  our  food,  or  ministers  to  our  comfort, 
because  it  must  affect  the  spiritual  essence  in  torturing 
the  souls  of  the  perversely  wicked. 

If  it  be  urged  that  the  language  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures is  explicit  on  the  point,  in  the  case  of  Dives,  Catho- 
lic Christianity  teaches  us  that  every  circumstance  of  a 
parable  is  not  to  be  pressed  to  its  strict  meaning,  and  may 
be  corrected  by  other  teaching  with  which  it  does  not 
accord.  So  that  all  the  stress  that  is  laid  on  "  roasting" 
and  "  frizzing,"  etc.,  is  not  applicable  to  the  idea  of  the 
punishment  of  "  sense"  in  the  region  of  the  damned. 

But  the  main  point  of  the  argument  contains  a  notable 
fallacy.  Though  the  torments  of  the  reprobate  are  in- 
conceivably great,  it  does  not  follow  that  we  can,  while  in 
this  mortal  state,  so  realize  the  truth  that  it  should  neces- 
sarily check  and  "  turn  awry"  the  whole  current  of  our 
ordinary  lives.  The  Apostle  tells  us  that  "  the  sensual 
man  perceiveth  not  the  things  that  are  of  the  Spirit  of 
God ;  for  it  is  foolishness  to  him  and  he  cannot  under- 
stand" (1  (Jor.  11.  14).  "We  see  now  through  a  glass  in 
an  obscure  manner"  (2  Cor.  xiii.  12).  Even  when  our 
Divine  Lord  was  teaching  His  disciples,  "  They  under- 
stood not  the  word,  and  it  was  hid  from  them,  so  that 
they  perceived  it  not"  (Luke  ix.  45). 

It  is  only  the  Saints  whose  minds  are  elevated  above 
the  suggestions  of  sense,  through  fasting  and  mortifica- 
tion, and  thus  disposed  to  co-operate  with  the  grace  of  God, 
and  profit  by  its  lights,  and  who  devote  all  the  energies  of 
their  souls  "  to  perceive  the  things  of  God,"  that  have  so 
keen  an  insight  into  the  spiritual  world,  that  it  moulds 
and  fashions  the  thoughts,  words,  and  actions  of  their 
daily  lives.     They,  by  constant  self-command,  have  so 


AS  SEEN   BY  FAITH.  136 

curbed  and  restrained  the  natural  tendency  to  mental  dis- 
sipation and  distraction,  that  they  are  more  like  angels 
than  men,  and  are  ever  in  the  Divine  presence,  and  thus, 
like  St.  Paul,  see  and  know  "  hidden  things"  connected 
with  the  life  to  come,  which  it  is  not  given  to  other  men 
to  understand. 

We  read  in  the  lives  of  the  Solitaries,  that  some  amongst 
them  were  so  impressed  with  the  visions,  vouchsafed  them 
of  the  future  judgment  and  punishment,  that  they  could 
not  forget,  even  for  a  short  time,  the  dread  convictions 
which  had  impressed  themselves  on  their  minds.  St. 
Jerome  in  his  quiet  cell  at  Bethlehem,  living  only  for 
God,  and  working  indefatigably  with  all  his  powerful 
mind  and  abundant  learning,  to  promote  His  honor  and 
glory,  often  imagined  that  he  heard  the  fearful  clang  of 
the  last  trumpet  summoning  him  to  judgment. 

But  these  are  very  exceptional  cases ;  and  it  is  there- 
fore a  complete  fallacy  to  infer  that,  because  Faith  does 
not  constantly  keep  before  us,  in  the  midst  of  the  distrac- 
tions and  cares  of  life,  even  its  tremendous  tniths — it  is 
therefore  only  a  sham  belief  or  Faith  of  the  lips  only,  and 
not  of  the  heart. 

This  answer  applies  perfectly  to  the  matter  before  us — 
"  Yes,"  will  say  those  who  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  beauty 
of  Catholic  Christianity,  "  no  doubt  it  is  beautiful  in  its 
mysteries,  and  in  the  admirable  connection  of  its  doc- 
trines, and  in  the  comfort  and  consolation  afforded  by  its 
sacramental  system.  Beautiful  beyond  anything  that 
can  be  conceived  in  its  teaching  concerning  the  Blessed 
Eucharist ;  for  what  can  raise  man  more  above  the  things 
of  earth,  and  fill  him  with  Divine  life  more  perfectly, 
than  the  conviction  that  he  may,  w^henever  he  pleases, 
visit  his  Saviour,  and  commune  with  Him  "as  it  were 


136       A   GLIMPSE  OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

face  to  face,"  and  be  made  one  with  Him  in  tlie  Holy 
Communion?  Yes,  all  this  is  true — but  it  proves  too 
much.  It  is  too  beautiful  to  accord  with  the  lives  of 
ordinary  Catholics.  They  cannot  possibly  believe  in  these 
delighful  and  consoling  doctrines ;  for  if  they  did,  they 
should  be  Saints."  "  Why,"  continues  the  objector,  "if 
I  could  believe  this,  I  would  already  be  raised  above  this 
earth — I  would  live  and  walk  with  God.  Oh !  the  bliss 
to  fold  Him,  as  it  were  in  my  embrace,  to  fall  at  His 
sacred  feet,  to  feel  with  Thomas  the  place  of  the  nails,  to 
place  my  hand  within  the  opened  side,  and  feel  the  beat- 
ings of  the  Sacred  Heart !" 

Those  who  might  be  disposed  to  reason  thus,  or  to 
attach  importance  to  imaginary  feelings  of  this  kind, 
would  show  at  once  that  they  have  a  poor  knowledge  of 
themselves,  and  a  poorer  knowledge  still  of  human  nature. 
There  may  be,  in  this  weary  world  of  temptation  and 
trial,  some  few  privileged  souls,  who  thus  live  continually 
in  the  presence  of  our  Saviour.  They  have  schooled 
themselves  by  persevering  habits  of  prayer  and  medita- 
tion, and  above  all  of  simple  obedience  and  docility  to 
prudent  direction,  to  receive  these  higher  gifts  of  God, 
vouchsafed  to  very  few,  of  being  caught  up  into  ecstasies, 
in  which  every  distraction  from  without  is  cut  off  by  the 
physical  insensibility  to  these  impressions,  and  the  whole 
soul  is  so  fixed  on  God,  as  to  forget  for  a  while  all  its  little 
cares,  and  conceits,  and  vanities. 

When  I  visited  Bois  d'Haine,  and  saw  the  girl  Louise 
Lateau,  and  spoke  with  her,  and  marked  her  simphcity 
of  character,  and  watched  her,  after  I  had  given  her  the 
Holy  Communion,  fall  into  an  ecstasy,  I  could  understand, 
that  one  so  good,  and  so  sorely  tried,  who  had  made  it 
from  childhood  the  constant  habit  of  her  daily  life,  to 


AS   SEEN   BY   FAITH.  137 

meditate  as  continuallj  as  possible  on  the  Passion  of  our 
Lord,  should,  as  she  described  her  visions  to  me,  see  Him 
bending  beneath  the  heavy  cross,  in  the  crowded  streets 
of  Jerusalem,  and  hear  the  shouts  and  yells  of  His  tor- 
mentors. She  told  me  that  this  was  what  she  saw,  when- 
ever she  seemed  dead  to  the  perception  of  external  ob- 
jects. "  Do  you  see  our  Divine  Lord?" — "  Yes." — "  Does 
He  appear  ever  to  see  you  ?  Do  you  catch  His  eye  as 
He  passes  along?" — "I^o,  never." 

It  was  not  diflficult  to  believe  that  a  Catholic  like  this 
peasant-girl,  who  seemed  to  be  leading  a  supernatural 
life,  might,  on  receiving  our  Divine  Lord  in  the  Holy 
Communion,  have  enjoyed  the  exalted  gift  of  feeling 
herself  in  the  visible  presence.  But  those  who  fancy  that 
Catholics  generally  should  enjoy  these  blissful  visions, 
and  feel  all  the  interior  comfort  that  ought  to  spring 
from  a  lively  Faith,  can  know  very  little  of  the  spiritual 
life  and  its  experiences.  They  expect  far  too  much,  they 
imagine  to  themselves  a  state  of  mind  and  feeling  that  is 
altogether  beyond  the  power  of  ordinary  humanity. 

It  is  not  anything  of  this  kind  we  learn  from  the 
teaching  of  our  Saviour.  He,  who,  "for  us  men  and 
our  salvation,"  came  down  and  dwelt  amongst  us,  and 
shared  our  infirmities  and  sorrows,  knows  what  is  good 
for  us.  He  has  compassion  on  our  miseries,  for  He 
shared  them  abundantly.  He  knows  by  this  experience, 
which  we  can  appreciate,  how  far  we  need  comfort  and 
support,  and  what  may,  through  our  vanity  and  self- 
love,  be  changed  from  real  consolation  into  a  temptation 
to  spiritual  pride.  He  is  therefore  sparing  in  the  distri- 
bution of  these  higher  gifts. 

What  a  world  of  meaning  there  is  in  that  reproach  ad- 
dressed by  Him  to  the  three  Apostles  in  the  garden  of 


138       A   GLIMPSE   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Gethsemani!  "What!  could  you  not  watch  one  hour 
with  me  ?"  One  hour !  and  that  hour  the  very  one  when 
He  needed,  actually  God  as  He  was,  needed  human  sym- 
pathy !  When  He  had  put  away  the  strong  defences  of 
His  Divinity,  and  dismissed  the  Blessed  Angels,  who  ever 
waited  upon  Him,  and  subjected  Himself  to  the  most 
overwhelming  feelings  that  can  sway  the  soul,  and  He 
was  "  sorrowful  even  unto  death,"  and  He  knelt  quite 
alone,  with  the  blood  gushing  through  the  pores  of  His 
trembling  body,  and  He  had  become  "  a  worm  and  no 
man,"  had  parted  even  with  manly  courage,  and  was 
thrown  flat  upon  the  ground  by  the  irresistible  force  of 
blank  fear  and  desolation,  it  was  only  then,  under  these 
extraordinary  circumstances  of  supreme  helplessness,  that 
He  said,  as  if  grieved  and  disappointed,  "  Could  you  not 
watch  one  hour  with  me."  He  did  not  expect  much  in 
the  way  of  comfort,  who,  once  only  in  His  life  on  earth, 
complained  of  the  unkindness  of  His  friends.  On  the 
cross,  when  His  heart  was  breaking,  a  cry  of  similar  com- 
plaint to  His  heavenly  Father  was  w^ung  from  Him  by 
the  intensity  of  His  agony.  Surely  this  example  of 
patient  endurance  through  a  whole  life,  darkened  through- 
out by  the  shadow  of  the  cross,  should  teach  us,  whose 
lives  must  be  made  conformable  to  His,  that  we  are  not 
to  expect  in  this  world  to  enjoy  the  full  consolations  and 
the  bright  visions  of  Faith. 

Although  the  Church  is  a  Divine  institution.  Divine 
in  its  Founder,  Divine  also  in  its  Mysteries,  and  means 
of  grace,  it  is  a  society  of  men,  who  are  commissioned 
by  Jesus  Christ  to  carry  out  His  work.  Those  who  are 
called  to  be  teachers  and  rulers  in  the  Church,  no  doubt, 
receive  special  gifts,  to  enable  them  to  discharge  faith- 
fully their  important  functions.     But  they,  like  all  God's 


AS   SEEN   BY   FAITH.  139 

intelligent  creatures  in  this  world  of  sin,  bear  the  respon- 
sibilities of  free-will.  They  may,  or  may  not,  make  a 
proper  use  of  the  supernatural  graces  bestowed  upon 
them.  God  will  not  force  them  to  do  what  He  earnestly 
desires.  N^o  more  will  He  force  those  who  form  the 
main  body  of  His  Church.  They  may,  or  may  not,  make 
a  proper  use  of  their  august  privileges  as  Catholics.  They 
may  trifle  with  the  gift  of  Faith,  and  expose  it  to  irrepa- 
rable danger,  by  toying  with  liberalism  and  infidehty ; 
they  may  neglect  the  sacraments,  and  leave  untouched 
the  Bread  of  life.  If  they  wilfully  persevere  in  this 
course,  a  time  will  surely  come  when  the  gift  of  God  will 
be  taken  away  from  them,  and  given  to  others  more 
likely  to  profit  by  it. 

But  God  is  patient  and  long-suffering,  and  it  is  consol- 
ing for  Catholics  to  know,  that  there  is  no  sin  however 
grievous,  that  necessarily  destroys  and  uproots  Faith, 
save  only  that  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  con- 
sists in  the  wilful  rejection  of  Faith  itself.  "  It  is  impos- 
sible," as  St.  Paul  says,  "  It  is  impossible  for  those  who 
were  once  enlightened,  have  tasted  also  the  heavenly 
gift,  and  were  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  have 
moreover  tasted  the  good  word  of  God,  and  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come,  and  are  fallen  away,  to  be  renewed 
again  unto  penance"  (Heb.  vi.  4,  6,  6). 

There  is  no  priest,  who  lias  been  many  years  on  the 
Mission,  who  has  not  had  personal  experience  of  both 
these  modes  of  dealing  on  the  part  of  God  with  bad 
Catholics.  It  is  wonderful  how  long  Faith  may  survive 
a  course  of  sin,  and  even  scandalous  sin.  I  have  before 
my  mind,  now,  striking  instances  of  this  mercy.  I  have 
known  men  who,  plunged  into  grievous  excesses,  have 
for  years  despised  warnings,  and  paid  no  attention  to 


140       A  GLIMPSE  OP  CATHOLIC   CHKISTIANITY 

pressing  exhortations,  and  yet,  in  some  wonderful  way 
they  have  clung  to  certain  practices  of  their  religion,  and 
have  said,  even  in  the  excess  of  their  debaucheries,  the 
prayers  taught  them  by  a  good  mother.  Such  as  these, 
when  it  was  least  expected  from  them,  have  renounced 
sin  effectually,  turned  to  God  with  all  their  hearts,  be- 
come real  penitents,  ever  maintaining  a  deep  sense  of 
their  wretched  ingratitude  to  God,  and  have  thus  been 
preserved  from  even  the  temptation  of  self-justification. 

I  have  before  my  mind  cases  too,  where  there  was  no 
public  sin  or  scandalous  immorality,  but  only  a  yielding 
to  the  spirit  of  worldliness,  followed  sooner  or  later  by 
a  positive  renunciation  of  the  Faith,  and  I  cannot  re- 
member one  case  where  Faith  thus  lost  was  ever  recov- 
ered again.  There  have  been  instances  in  my  experience 
where  those  unfortunate  Catholics  were  brought  to  see  the 
greatness  of  their  loss,  and  the  utter  hollowness  of  the 
fashionable  theories,  which  they  had  preferred  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  and  where  there  was  real  regret 
for  this,  folly,  and  those  who  had  erred,  longed  with 
all  their  hearts  to  win  back  the  precious  treasure  they 
had  lost.  But,  as  far  as  human  eyes  could  judge,  they 
wept  and  sighed  in  vain.  They  could  not  believe  again. 
"  The  things  of  God  were  foolishness  to  them  and  they 
could  not  understand." 

There  is  no  more  dangerous  mistake  on  the  part  of 
converts  to  the  true  Church,  than  to  imagine  that  they 
shall  find  perfection  in  Catholics,  that  every  priest  will 
be  an  Apostle,  and  every  nun  a  St.  Teresa.  Through 
the  gift  of  God,  they  see  in  a  moment  revealed  to  them, 
in  all  their  lustrous  beauty,  the  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
After  they  have  spent  perhaps  years  in  inquiring  and 
reading,  and  satisfying  doubts,  and  attempting  to  clear 


AS   SEEN   BY   FAITH.  141 

up  difficulties,  earnestly  trying,  by  tlie  best  efforts  of 
their  intelligence,  to  grope  their  way  to  God  through  the 
midst  of  darkness,  the  light  has  suddenly  burst  upon 
them,  as  it  did  on  St.  Paul  near  Damascus.  The  scales 
of  prejudice  drop  from  their  eyes,  they  drink  m  the  les- 
sons of  the  Catholic  religion,  with  an  avidity  that  tells  of 
their  long  hunger  and  thirst,  and  at  once  they  seem  to 
rise  to  the  third  heaven,  m  the  joy  and  consolation 
afforded  by  the  practices  of  the  Faith.  They  cannot  go 
to  Holy  Communion  often  enough ;  they  would  wish  to 
receive  the  Most  Holy,  twenty  times  a  day,  if  it  were 
possible,  they  are  all  aglow  with  the  happy  excitement  of 
having  found  the  rich  treasure — "  the  pearl  beyond  all 
price."  They  desire  to  mount  the  rugged  way  to  Heaven 
with  giant  strides,  for,  can  they  not  "  do  all  things,"  they 
say,  "  in  Him  who  strengthens  them"  in  the  sacraments, 
and  above  all  in  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Altar. 
And  when  they  are  counselled  to  be  moderate,  and  sim- 
ple, and  obedient,  and  told  that  God  does  not  require 
extraordinary  things,  but  that  they  should  do  well  the 
little  of  which  they  are  capable  even  with  His  helping 
grace,  and  to  "  watch  and  pray"  and  guard  against  self- 
confidence,  they  are  chilled  by  such  prudent  counsel. 
Then  after  a  time,  they  begin  to  look  around  them,  and 
to  notice  that  their  fellow-Catholics  do  not  share  their 
ardor,  that  most  of  them  are  toiling  slowly  and  steadily 
onward,  often  slipping  and  falling,  and  it  may  be  settling 
down  into  sloth  and  tepidity. 

This  excites  their  surprise,  and  their  wonder  is  in- 
creased, when  they  discover  that  priests  are  not  angels, 
but  men  "compassed  about  with  infirmity" — sons  of 
Adam,  sons  of  sinners,  who  have  their  own  sins  to  offer 
for,  their  own  temptations  to  encounter ;  that  Eeligious 


142       A  GLIMPSE   OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

too  have  their  imperfections.  "When  they  see  all  this, 
they  are  apt  to  be  distressed,  and  it  may  be  disenchanted 
and  disappointed  with  the  Eeligion  they  have  embraced, 
and  tempted  to  believe  that  it  is  not  in  reality  the  beau- 
teous Heavenly  thing  they  once  thought  it  was. 

They  were  with  these  views,  simply  forgetting  that 
the  fairest  works  of  God  are  always  marred  and  spoiled 
by  our  imperfections :  and  that  God  Himself,  respecting 
our  free  will,  cannot  give  the  brightness  and  purity  of 
Heaven  to  what  is  only  human  after  all. 

Our  Divine  Lord  has  prepared  us  for  these  disappoint- 
ments in  the  beautiful  parables,  in  which  He  has  de- 
scribed "  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  or  His  Church  on 
earth.  In  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  there  is 
a  series  of  these  parables,  and  we  have  only  to  combine 
them,  when  we  see  at  once  how  admirably  they  describe 
that  strange  mixture  of  good  and  evil,  of  piety  and  luke- 
warmness,  of  earnest  zeal,  and  cold  indifference,  that 
marks  the  different  members  of  the  one  true  fold.  This 
is  so  strikingly  put  by  Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  his  essay  on 
the  "  Parables  of  the  New  Testament,"  that  my  readers 
will,  I  am  sure,  thank  me  for  giving  an  extract  from  that 
polished  writer,  and  profound  thinker. 

After  speaking  of  the  parable  of  the  sower,  as  the  pre- 
liminary or  introductory  parable  of  the  whole  series,  in 
as  much  as  it  lays  down  the  necessary  dispositions  for  re- 
ceiving with  profit  the  words  of  Christ,  he  goes  on, — 
"  The  seed  then  sown  by  Christ  in  this  field  of  the  world, 
that  portion  of  it  even,  which  fell  upon  well-prepared 
ground,  was  soon  to  be  disturbed  by  the  enemy.  A 
spurious  seed  would  soon  be  scattered  among  it,  and 
would  spring  up  side  by  side  with  the  blade  of  genuine 
grain ;  that  is,  even  in  the  Church  itseK,  and  among  the 


AS   SEEN   BY   FAITH.  143 

faithful,  there  would  arise  corruption,  vices,  and  scandals ; 
the  parable  of  the  cockle." 

So  it  must  be  with  all  things  human.  "  There  must 
be  scandals ;"  it  would  be  f oUj  to  expect  anything  else. 
It  is  only  the  founders  of  false  sects,  whether  deceived 
by  fanaticism,  or  maliciously  deceiving  others,  that  have 
pretended  to  form  a  society  where  all  would  be  perfect. 
'No  careful  watching,  no  plucking  up  the  weeds,  will  pre- 
serve the  field  of  the  Church  from  this  mixture  of  good 
and  bad  :  and  so  our  Divine  Lord  who  "  fully  understood 
what  was  in  man,"  ordained  that  the  separation  was  to  be 
effected  only  when  the  time  of  the  great  harvest  shall 
come.  The  sorting  of  the  fish  is  to  take  place  on  the 
shore  of  eternity,  when  the  angels  of  God,  assisting  in  the 
great  judgment,  will  be  the  sorters  of  good  and  bad. 
Wickliffe,  and  Huss,  by  declaring  that  sin  put  an  end  to 
all  rights,  aimed  at  a  society  of  the  immaculate. 

Every  heresy  is  tainted  with  the  same  foolish  notion  of 
a  perfect  community.  It  was  the  grand  characteristic  of 
Donatism.  "  The  basis  of  that  heresy  and  schism,"  says 
Cardinal  Wiseman,  "was  that  the  Church  could  only 
consist  of  incorrupt  members,  and  that  every  portion  of 
it  which  tolerated  or  forgave  those  guilty  of  a  grievous' 
crime,  had  forfeited  its  claims.  Protestantism  is  essenti- 
ally Donatist,  whether  in  its  High-Church  theory  of 
branch  separation  from  the  trunk,  or  in  its  lowest  evan- 
gelical idea  of  an  invisible  elect  Church." 

Hence  those  who  admire  Catholic  Christianity,  as  all 
must  admire  it  who  once  discover  it  clear  of  the  mists  and 
shadows  of  prejudice,  and  distinct  from  the  misrepresen- 
tations of  its  enemies,  should  understand,  that  this  beauty, 
and  grace,  and  supernatural  and  divinely  conceived  har- 
mony and  order,  is  only  the  ideal  before  the  mind  of  the 


144       A   GLIMPSE   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Saviour.  He  manifested  this  truly  Divine  conception 
when,  on  the  night  before  He  suffered,  He  prayed  that 
all  who  believed  in  Him  might  be  made  so  perfect  in 
unity  and  love,  that  the  world  would  be  converted  at  the 
charming  spectacle.  In  that  prayer,  our  Divine  Lord  ex- 
hibits to  us  His  fond  desire,  and  shows  us  what  He  would 
actually  accomplish,  if  we  would  only  freely  give  Him 
our  hearts,  and  suffer  Him  to  mould  them  as  He  willed. 
The  reality  is  very  different  from  the  ideal ;  human  in- 
firmity, human  weakness,  imperfections,  even  among  the 
just,  continual  falling  away  from  fervor,  not  to  speak  of 
scandals  of  a  grave  kind,  are  ever  soiling  and  disfiguring 
the  glorious  work  of  God. 

This  view  of  the  Church  as  it  really  is,  a  society  of 
men,  believing  all,  as  if  with  one  mind,  the  same  myster- 
ies, confessing,  as  if  with  one  mouth,  the  same  doctrine, 
partaking  of  the  same  sacraments,  nourished  by  the  one 
saving  Bread  of  life,  bound  together  under  the  one  visi- 
ble head,  the  Yicar  and  Representative  of  Christ ;  yet  all 
differing  in  degrees  of  piety  or  wickedness,  a  heterogene- 
ous collection  well  figured  by  the  "  crowd  of  bad  and 
good  gathered  to  the  wedding  feast"  (Matt.  xxii.  10) 
explains  away  at  once  the  difficulties  urged  against  the 
sanctity  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

"  Can  she,"  it  is  argued,  "  be  a  Holy  Church,  where 
there  is  so  much  immorality,  where  there  are  so  many 
scandals,  where,  even  amongst  those  who  ought  to  be 
patterns  of  every  virtue,  there  is  so  much  weakness  ? 
Can  we  call  that  Church  a  holy  and  perfect  Church, 
where  even  the  very  head  and  representative  of  Christ 
has  been,  as  in  the  case  of  some  Popes,  a  notorious  sinner  ?" 

Yes ;  I  reply  she  can  be  Holy,  perfectly  Holy  in  her 
teaching,  Holy  in  her  sacraments.  Holy  in  everything 


AS   SEE  NT   BY   FAITH.  145 

that  can  help  to  make  men  saints ;  and  yet  exhibit  all 
these  blemishes,  because  she  is  composed  of  men,  who 
may  resist  grace,  and  profane  sacraments,  and  do  what- 
ever their  evil  nature  suggests,  and  they  are  determined 
to  carry  out.  Admitting  even  for  a  moment  the  grossly 
exaggerated  stories  of  immorality  in  her  rulers,  one 
answer  to  all  this  is  readily  found  in  the  fact,  that,  even 
amongst  the  chosen  twelve,  there  was  one  who  sinned  so 
grievously,  that  our  Divine  Lord  said  of  him,  "  it  were 
better  for  him  that  he  had  never  been  born."  Further, 
as  to  the  objection  that  there  were  bad  Popes,  I  reply 
that,  even  if  this  were  established  as  a  fact  by  historians 
above  suspicion,  it  would  not  affect  the  sanctity  of  the 
Church,  as  regards  her  holy  teaching,  and  the  means  of 
grace ;  it  would  only  prove  that,  in  spite  of  the  weakness 
of  human  nature,  the  glorious  work  of  the  Son  of  God 
would  produce,  in  men  of  good-will,  the  sanctifying 
effects  intended  by  its  Divine  Founder.  Tlie  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  though  they  were  "  whited  sepulchres,"  were 
approved,  in  their  office  of  teaching  the  people,  by  our 
Divine  Lord  :  "  All  things  whatsoever  they  shall  say  to 
you,  observe  and  do  "  (Matt,  xxiii.  3).  JS'either  they  who 
sat  "  in  the  chair  of  Moses"  nor  those  who  were,  by  Di- 
vine appointment  of  the  Saviour,  to  fulfil  the  work  com- 
mitted specially  to  St.  Peter,  of  "  confirming  the  faith," 
were  guaranteed,  by  any  promise,  from  personal  weak- 
ness or  actual  sin.  They  might  therefore  sin,  and  sin 
grievously,  yet  the  Faithful  should  obey  their  commands, 
and  observe  their  doctrine. 

I  do  not  deny  that  grave  charges  of  ambition  and  im- 
morality have  been  made  by  many  Protestant  writers, 
and  even  Catholic  historians  of  the  Galilean  school, 
against  some  of  the  successors  of  St.  Peter;  but  there  is 


146       A   GLIMPSE  OF   CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

no  doubt  that  these  charges  rest  on  weak  foundation,  and 
that  they  have  been  grossly  exaggerated  bj  the  enemies 
of  the  Holy  See.  Much  of  this  accumulated  rubbish  is 
fast  disappearing  from  the  pages  of  genuine  history. 
The  disinterested  labors  of  learned  men,  superior  to  vul- 
gar prejudice,  such  as  Frederic  Hurter,  Professor  Yoight, 
Doctor  Hock,  Eoscoe,  and  I  might  add  the  writings  of 
Leopold  Ranke,  are  establishing  more  and  more  clearly 
and  satisfactorily,  the  truth  of  the  words  of  a  celebrated 
writer — that  "  History,"  especially  in  all  that  relates  to 
the  Catholic  Church,  is  "  a  vast  conspiracy  against  truth." 
But  even  admitting  that,  amongst  the  260  Popes,  there 
were  a  few  whose  lives  were  tainted  by  "the  pride  of 
life"  and  even  immorality,  what  would  follow  ?  Should 
we  then  believe  that  the  solemn  promises  of  the  Divine 
Founder  of  the  Church  had  been  made  void  ?  ]^o,  this 
could  never  be.  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but 
His  words  shall  not  pass  away"  (Mark  xiii.  31).  This 
only  could  be  reasonably  deduced  from  such  scandals — a 
truth  not  understood  perhaps  when  our  Divine  Lord  de- 
scribed His  Kingdom  on  earth  in  the  parables,  that  this 
Kingdom,  the  Church,  was  constituted,  as  well  in  its 
teaching  body  as  in  all  its  members,  of  weak  human  ele- 
ments, and  should  consequently  exhibit  more  or  less,  even 
in  those  in  the  highest  position,  the  taint  of  their  personal 
weakness  and  infirmity.  There  was  no  promise — there 
could  be  none  consistent  with  free-will,  that  engaged  our 
Lord,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  His  work,  to  pro- 
vide sinless  successors  to  His  first  Yicar  on  earth.  The 
promise  of  supernatural  aid  was  to  secure  "  the  Faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints"  from  corruption.  Men  who 
occupied  the  chair  of  Peter,  and  became  by  their  office 
the  "  mouthpiece"  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  might  fall  into 


AS  SEEN  BY  FAITH.  147 

sin,  but,  "  for  the  sake  of  the  elect,"  they  would  still  be 
guided  in  the  ways  of  sound  doctrine,  as  were  Caiphas 
and  the  exponents  of  prophecy  and  the  law  in  the  Jewish 
Church,  and  would  not  be  allowed  to  lead  the  flock  into 
the  noxious  and  poisonous  pastures  of  heresy  and  im- 
morality. 

How  beautifully  is  not  this  truth  expressed  by  the 
Apostle !  "  God  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out 
of  darkness,  He  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Christ  Jesus :  but  we  hold  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels, 
that  the  excellency  may  be  of  the  power  of  God,  and  not 
of  us"  (2.  Cor.  iv.  6,  Y).  How  stupidly  Protestants  mix 
up  together  inerrancy  of  teaching  and  impeccability  of 
life!  They  will  not  believe  it  possible  that  Holy  and 
sound  doctrine  can  come  to  men  through  the  lips  of  weak 
and  sinful  mortals;  as  if  our  Divine  Lord  had  made 
angels  and  not  men  the  ministers  of  His  gospel. 

There  is  another  view  of  the  subject  which  forces  itself 
upon  me  here.  Non-Catholics  will  not  believe  that 
Priests  and  nuns  can  be  faithful  to  the  grace  of  their 
vocation,  because  they  look  only  to  the  weakly  earthen 
vessel.  They  know  very  clearly  how  weak  human  nature 
is  in  their  own  persons,  how  prone  to  evil,  how  easily 
overcome ;  but  they  seem  not  to  recognize  the  power  of 
supernatural  grace.  As  Cardinal  Newman  expresses  it, 
"  Men  of  the  world  know  the  power  of  nature ;  they 
know  not,  experience  not,  believe  not  the  power  of  God's 
grace ;  and  since  they  are  not  themselves  acquainted  with 
any  power  that  can  overcome  nature,  they  think  that 
none  exists,  and  therefore,  consistently,  they  believe  that 
every  one.  Priest  or  not,  remains  to  the  end  such  as  nature 
made  him,  and  they  will  not  believe  it  possible  that  any 


148       A   GLIMPSE   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

one  can  lead  a  supernatural  life.  And  when  thej  hear 
of  the  life  which  a  Priest  must  lead  bj  his  profession 
from  youth  to  age,  they  will  not  credit  what  he  professes 
to  be.  They  know  nothing  of  the  presence  of  Grod,  the 
merits  of  Christ,  the  intercession  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin ; 
the  virtue  of  recurring  prayers,  of  frequent  confession, 
of  daily  Masses ;  they  are  strangers  to  the  transforming 
power  of  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament,  the  Bread  of  Angels ; 
they  do  not  contemplate  the  efficacy  of  salutary  rules,  of 
holy  companions,  of  long  enduring  habit,  of  ready  spon- 
taneous vigilance,  of  abhorrence  of  sin  and  indignation 
at  the  tempter,  to  secure  the  soul  from  evil." 

If  those  who  rant  and  rave  against  the  Holiness  of  the 
Church  could  catch  only  a  glimpse  of  the  interior  life  of 
a  good  priest,  or  a  fervent  Religious,  what  a  marvel  that 
would  be  to  them !  How  completely  would  their  ideas 
be  changed !  The  daily  meditation,  the  examination  of 
conscience,  the  constant  thought  of  the  presence  of  God, 
the  pious  ejaculations,  the  frequent  lifting  up  of  the  heart 
to  God,  all  this  carried  on  in  the  busy  thoroughfares  of 
life,  unrevealed  exteriorly  by  a  look  or  any  outward  sign, 
would  seem  to  them  almost  incredible.  If  it  were  given 
them,  like  the  servants  of  the  prophet,  to  have  their  eyes 
opened,  so  that  they  could  see  the  angels  of  God  ascend- 
ing and  descending,  to  mark  the  bright  gleam  of  happi- 
ness on  the  face  of  the  guardian  spirit,  so  proud  of  the 
purity  of  his  charge,  and  the  flashes  of  beauteous  light 
from  Heaven,  as  grace  after  grace  and  blessing  after 
blessing  descends  on  the  soul  of  God's  faithful  servant, 
then  would  they  behold  with  admiration  what  is  meant 
by  the  supernatural  life  in  Catholic  Christianity,  and  what 
a  blissful  thing  it  is  to  walk  with  God  in  this  world,  and 


AS   SEEN   BY   FAITH.  149 

to  minister  to  Him  in  tlie  spiritual  and  corporal  necessi- 
ties of  His  children. 

This  is  no  imaginary  sketch,  it  must  be  something  like 
the  reality  of  a  Holy  life  in  "  the  city  of  God  "  on  earth. 
And,  if  the  stranger  to  our  creed  went  farther,  and  pur- 
sued the  same  train  of  thought  and  vision,  as  regards  the 
service  at  the  Altar — surely  it  would  not  require  any 
efforts  to  realize  to  his  mind  that  blissful  sight  described 
by  St.  John  Chrysostom,  when  he  tells  us,  that,  as  he 
performed  the  sacred  rites,  he  saw  the  angels  around  him, 
bowing  down  and  worshipping  "  the  lamb  that  was  slain 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,"  and  supplementing  by 
their  ardent  fervor  the  coldness  and  insensibility  which 
must  ever  accompany  even  the  best  efforts  of  the  soul, 
while  it  is  enclosed  in  the  prison  of  the  body,  to  rise  to 
the  perception  of  things  supernatural 

In  the  next  chapter,  I  mean  to  summarize  the  view  of 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  as  it  appears  to  the  eyes  of 
enlightened  Faith.  It  will  then  be  seen  more  clearly 
what  is  this  creation  of  God  on  earth,  that  is  assailed  so 
fiercely  by  the  arms  of  Christian  error,  and  daring  infi- 
delity, and  how  widely  different  is  Catholic  Christianity, 
from  the  miserably  distorted  object  which  is  held  up  by 
its  enemies  to  the  ridicule,  and  scorn,  and  hatred  of  an 
unbelieving  world. 


150     A   FUKTHER  VIEW   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 


CHAPTEK  YII. 

A  Further  View  of  Catholic  Christianity  Through 
its  Forms  of  Worship. 

A  GEE  AT  deal  has  been  written  to  show  how  pref  er- 
-^-^  able  is  the  simplicity  of  Protestant  worship,  to  the 
gorgeous  ceremonial  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Chnrch. 
Yery  learned  men,  who  probably  were  so  full  of  this 
notion  of  the  fitness  of  simple  prayer,  that  they  never 
troubled  themselves  to  study  the  symbolic  character  of 
our  ceremonies,  have  denounced  them  as  unmeaning 
"  mummery."  In  their  view,  the  solemn,  and  stately,  and 
well  emphasized  reading  of  approved  prayers,  and  the 
chanting  of  popular  hymns,  and  antiphons,  and  the  pol- 
ished essay  on  some  moral  subject,  are  immeasurably 
superior  to  a  grand  High  Mass,  with  a  full  choral  service, 
embellished  by  strains  of  the  highest  artistic  music,  and 
an  eloquent  exposition  by  the  preacher  of  some  great 
mystery  of  Pevealed  Religion  with  its  practical  conse- 
quences, and  a  touching  exhortation  to  generous  resolu- 
tions. 

Putting  aside  for  a  moment  the  all-important  consider- 
ation, what  does  the  Almighty  prefer,  as  far  as  we  can 
know  of  His  good  pleasure,  let  us  view  the  disputed 
point  in  its  purely  human  aspects. 

I  believe  that  any  one  who  takes  into  consideration  the 
wants  and  infirmities  of  our  nature,  and  shuts  out  from 
his  view  the  suggestions  of  prejudice,  must  admit  that  a 
due  attention  to  outward  ceremonial  is  a  wonderful  help 


THROUGH   ITS   FORMS    OF   WORSHIP.  151 

to  fix  the  wandering  thoughts,  and  confine  tlie  attention 
of  the  worship]3ers  to  the  main  object  before  them. 

In  estimating  the  matter,  we  must  take  it  in  its  extreme 
forms,  and  judge  between  the  most  rigid  simphcitj,  and 
the  most  elaborate  ceremonial.  Suppose  we  contrast  a 
man,  wearing  the  ordinary  dress  of  the  world,  reading, 
from  a  platform  or  stool,  a  chapter  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, without  any  effort  at  elocution,  beyond  bringing 
out  distinctly  the  words  of  the  sacred  text ;  and  this  in  a 
plain  building,  void  of  anything  like  religious  ornamenta- 
tion, merely  contrived  in  its  architectural  proportions  to 
assist  the  reader's  voice,  and  that  when  he  does  read,  he 
discourses  plainly  on  some  text,  and  that  when  he  has 
finished  his  homily,  the  congregation,  without  help  of 
organ  or  any  instrument,  join  in  an  ordinary  hymn  ;  sup- 
pose, I  say,  we  contrast  this  simplest  form  of  Christian 
worship  with  the  Ceremonial  of  High  Mass  in  a  grand 
Cathedral,  there  can  scarcely  be  a  doubt  which  will  be 
more  likely  to  impress  the  ordinary  public. 

Take  a  congregation  consisting  in  the  main  of  the  poor 
and  the  uneducated,  those  in  a  word  to  whom  it  was  our 
Divine  Lord's  greatest  consolation  that  they  had  the 
gospel  preached  to  them,  and  can  it  be  maintained,  that 
they  will  be  equally  impressed  in  both  cases  ?  Of  course 
I  am  supposing  that  the  natural  emotions  have  not  been 
schooled  by  puritanical  training,  and  that  those  who  are 
present  are  left  entirely  to  their  own  unbiased  feelings. 
I  believe  that  no  intelligent  and  honest  man  will  have  a 
doubt  on  the  point.  "  It  is  only  quite  natural,"  he  will 
eay,  "  that  the  grand  music  and  the  pealing  of  the  organ, 
and  the  rich  vestments  of  the  officiating  priests,  and  the 
clouds  of  incense,  and  the  clash  of  arms  of  the  military 
present,  and  the  bowing  down  of  the  whole  assemblage 


152     A   FURTHER  VIEW   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

at  the  more  solemn  parts  of  the  ceremony,  will  produce  a 
soul-subduing  effect ;  and  that  this  effect  will  be  consider- 
ably heightened  by  the  lofty  nave  and  aisles,  and  the 
lights,  and  flowers,  and  decorations  of  the  majestic  build- 
ing." "  The  meeting-house"  or  the  "  Tabernacle"  may 
be  as  large  as  the  temple  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  its  fit- 
tings al]  that  is  considered  perfect  in  the  way  of  utility 
and  comfort,  the  acoustic  principles  duly  attended  to, 
and  the  ventilation  carried  out  on  the  highest  scientific 
principles,  and  the  pews  padded  like  first-class  railway 
carriages,  but  the  walls  bare  and  bald  of  any  decoration, 
no  pictures  on  their  broad  expansive  waste — no  stained- 
glass  windows,  nothing,  in  a  word,  to  appeal  through 
sense  to  soul,  what  will  be  the  natural  effect  of  this 
simplicity  ?  Alas !  for  the  religious  feeling  or  devout 
attention  of  those  who  are  not  over  interested  in  the 
commentaries,  and  disquisitions,  and  numerous  points  of 
the  learned  preacher.  It  is  not  in  human  nature,  that 
the  many,  unable  to  follow  the  discourse  through  its 
many  mazes  and  subtle  windings,  should  not  yield  to  a 
thousand  distracting  thoughts.  They  will  certainly 
grow  weary  of  the  solemn  tones,  and  mope ;  and  if  they 
dare  not  look  about,  and  converse  with  their  neighbors, 
will  in  all  probability  slumber  peacefully  in  the  well- 
stuffed  pews. 

I  know  very  well  that,  at  one  period,  when  prejudice 
and  bigotry,  the  offspring  of  gross  misrepresentation, 
had  excited  in  the  ignorant  masses,  a  hatred  of  Popery, 
and  it  was  considered  a  godly  work  to  mutilate  and 
destroy  the  costly  treasures  of  art,  with  which  ages  of 
Faith  had  enriched  the  splendid  Cathedrals  of  England 
and  Scotland,  that  the  barns  and  "  pantile"  structures 
were  the  cherished  conventicles  of  the  men  who  preached 


THROUGH  ITS   FORMS   OF  WORSHIP.  153 

and  sang  and  prayed  aloud  in  the  extempore  style  and 
witli  the  nasal  twang  immortalized  by  Scott.  But  these 
days  have  happily  passed  away. 

When  I  visited,  a  few  years  ago,  St.  Mungo's  Cathedral 
in  Glasgow,  recently  enriched,  even  in  its  crypts,  with 
stained  windows  that  are  marvels  of  art,  and  saw  just 
opposite  the  frowning  figure  of  John  Knox,  who  seems, 
in  his  bronze  lineaments,  to  denounce  this  hateful  restora- 
tion, I  felt  that  a  change  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  this 
dream  of  Puritanism;  and  that  sensible  men  were  forced 
nowadays,  in  spite  of  long-cherished  traditions,  to  pay 
public  homage  to  the  genius  of  Catholic  Christianity. 

It  is  only  in  congregations  of  ultra-puritans,  on  the 
borders  of  civilization,  such  as  the  "  Doppers"  of  the  Dutch 
Church  on  our  remote  frontiers,  where  men  and  women 
drawl  out  the  psalms,  as  they  did  one  hundred  years  ago, 
and  are  sustained  in  their  noisy  fervor  by  the  energy  of 
fiery  Predikants,  that  people  object  to  organs  and  the 
other  adjuncts  of  solemn  worship.  Any  one  may  see, 
from  the  style  of  ecclesiastical  architecture  adopted  within 
the  last  generation  in  the  colony,  and  the  tendency  of 
Christians  of  all  denominations  to  decorate  their  churches 
and  chapels,  that  there  is  really  something  after  all  in 
the  good  old  Catholic  notion,  that  the  soul,  in  all  that 
concerns  the  fitting  worship  of  the  Almighty,  must  be 
reached  through  sense. 

Eitualism  has  not  yet  fully  developed  itself  amongst 
us,  in  orderly  ceremonial  and  elaborate  choral  services, 
with  vestments  and  lights  and  incense ;  but  an  ordinary 
observer  may  perceive  on  all  sides  enough  to  satisfy  him, 
that  I  am  not  arguing  on  any  but  sound  principles,  and 
the  promptings  of  our  best  instincts,  when  I  say  that, 
apart  altogether  from  the  will  and  good  pleasure  of  God, 


154     A   FURTHER   VIEW   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

made  known  to  ns  in  Revelation,  and  viewing  the  matter 
only  in  its  Imman  aspects,  the  simplicity,  as  it  is  called, 
of  un-Catholic  worship  is  a  mere  j)retence,  invented  in 
past  days  to  excite  and  sustain  odium  against  the  practices 
of  the  Catholic  Church. 

But  if  we  rise  above  the  question  of  mere  taste  and 
right  feeling,  and  ask  ourselves  what  is  the  will  of  God  as 
to  our  mode  of  worship,  it  will  appear  certain  beyond 
doubt,  that  the  same  God,  who  instructed  His  chosen 
people  under  the  old  covenant  in  all  the  details  of  solemn 
worship,  did  also,  in  the  person  of  Christ,  instruct  the 
Apostles,  that  these  outward  forms  should  be  preserved 
by  believers  in  their  teaching.  External  ceremonies  and 
outward  forms  of  Religious  service,  suited  to  our  wants 
and  capacities,  arise  naturally  from  the  Incarnation,  and 
the  whole  sacramental  system. 

If  we  ask  ourselves  what  was  actually  the  mode  of 
worship  in  the  earliest  Christian  times,  we  find,  in  the 
old  Liturgies,  a  direct  and  clear  answer  to  the  question. 
We  do  not  know  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  what  were 
the  special  instructions  of  our  Divine  Lord  on  this  point, 
but  He  who  was  so  careful  that  every  tittle  and  iota  of 
the  Mosaical  dispensation  should,  as  long  as  that  dispen- 
sation was  in  force,  be  strictly  complied  with,  must, 
while  "  giving  commandments  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the 
Apostles  whom  He  had  chosen"  (Acts  i.  2),  have  fully 
explained  to  them  His  wishes  on  this  important  matter. 
"There  are  many  other  things,"  St.  John  tells  us,  which 
Our  Saviour  said  and  did  "  which  are  not  written"  (John 
XX.  31). 

The  practice  of  the  Church,  when  she  was  free  to  act 
in  the  matter  of  building  churches,  and  arranging  her 
ceremonial,   brings    out  what  these   instructions  were. 


THROUGH   ITS   FORMS   OF   WORSHIP.  155 

From  the  time  when  Persecution  ceased,  and  the  Basilicas 
?nd  other  public  buildings  were  handed  over  by  the  Im- 
perial Government  for  Christian  Worship,  we  know,  from 
the  records  carefully  preserved  in  all  the  churches,  what 
this  worship  was.  In  the  cities  and  towns  remote  from 
the  great  centres  of  persecution,  there  were,  we  may  con- 
Udently  believe,  even  in  Apostolic  times,  solemn  forms 
of  external  worship.  Most  commentators  on  the  Apoca- 
lypse hold,  that  the  vision  of  the  golden  candlesticks,  and 
the  altar  with  "  the  Lamb  as  it  were  slain"  resting  upon 
it,  and  the  golden  censer  with  its  fire  and  smoking  in- 
cense, and  the  assembled  priests  with  the  Yenerable 
Pontiff  presiding,  seated  on  his  throne,  and  the  hymns 
and  canticles,  and  the  harps  and  musical  instruments,  was 
clothed  in  imagery  borrowed  from  the  ceremonial  of  the 
Church  as  it  existed  in  his  time,  and  that  St.  John  made 
use  of  this  imagery,  so  familiar  to  the  Faithful,  in  order 
to  help  them  to  form  an  idea  of  the  honor  and  adoration 
paid  to  our  Divine  Lord,  by  the  Saints  and  Angels,  in  the 
sanctuary  of  Heaven. 

A  Protestant  writer,  Bingham  says,  in  reference  to 
these  passages  from  the  Apocalypse,  "We  have  here 
seen  the  model  of  the  worship  of  Christ  as  begun  and 
settled  in  the  practice  of  the  Church  in  the  first  ages,  and 
we  shaU  find  it  continued  in  the  same  manner  in  those 
that  followed  immediately  after"  (Bingham,  Origines 
JEcGlesiasticoB,  book  xiii.  ch.  ii.).  The  learned  Dr.  Kock 
says  on  this  point,  "  Such  a  remarkable  resemblance  exists 
between  the  more  conspicuous  outhnes  of  this  mysterious 
representation,  drawn  in  so  graphic  a  manner  by  the 
luminous  pencil  of  the  Evangelist,  and  those  sketches  of 
the  celebration  of  the  Eucharistic  mysteries,  incidentally 
pictured  by  the  earlier  Fathers  in  their  letters  and  other 


156     A   FURTHER  VIEW   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

writings,  and  even  by  Pagans  in  their  remarks  upon  the 
ways  and  habits  and  practices  of  the  Christians  around 
them,  or  traced,  with  studious  and  minute  accuracy,  in 
the  Liturgies  of  each  particular  church,  that  we  are  com- 
pelled to  refer  them  to  one  original,  from  which  they 
have  all  been  copied  with  but  very  little  and  unimportant 
variation"  (Hierurgia^  p.  91). 

It  may  have  been  that  the  Liturgy  of  the  Holy  Sacri- 
fice, or  the  Mass,  was  modelled  according  to  the  Vision 
of  St.  John,  the  favorite  disciple  of  our  Divine  Lord. 
In  either  case,  as  Dr.  Rock  remarks,  the  Liturgy  or  Mass 
bears  deeply  impressed  upon  it  the  type  of  Apostolical 
institution. 

But  it  is  in  the  cradle  of  our  Christian  Faith,  in  the 
Catacombs,  that  we  find  the  most  striking  proofs  that  the 
Catholic  mode  of  worship  of  the  present  day  is  most  in- 
timately connected  with  the  worship  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians. It  is  proved  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  eminent 
archaeologists,  who  have  made  the  careful  examination, 
and  minute  description  of  these  subterranean  retreats, 
the  study  and  work  of  their  lives,  that  the  Catacombs, 
early  in  the  second  century,  were  used  by  the  persecuted 
Christians,  not  only  as  hiding-places  and  for  the  purpose 
of  burial ;  but  also  for  their  assemblies,  and  for  their 
united  devotions  and  sacred  rites.  Guided  by  such  lights 
as  Boldetti,  Bottari,  Bosio,  Aringhi,  and  D'Agincourt, 
and  prepared  by  a  careful  study  of  the  annals  of  early 
Ecclesiastical  History,  the  visitor,  who  in  these  days  de- 
scends, torch  in  hand,  into  this  city  of  the  dead,  will  at 
once  discover  unmistakable  traces  of  the  Altar  at  which 
the  Holy  Mass  was  celebrated  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago.  Aided  by  the  emblems,  and  decorations,  and  fres- 
cos, on  the  walls  of  the  little  chambers,  he  can  easily 


THROUGH  ITS   FORMS   OF  WORSHIP.  157 

picture  to  himself,  where  stood  the  sacrificing  priest, 
where  knelt  the  pious  crowd,  and  fancy  he  hears  again 
the  hymns,  and  alleluias,  and  strains  of  holy  gladness, 
pealing  through  the  vaults  and  passages. 

How  silly  it  is  for  men,  in  the  face  of  evidence  like 
this,  to  declare  that  the  earliest  worship  was  like  that 
of  the  Puritans  of  the  days  of  Cromwell!  We  see  in 
the  frescos  of  the  Catacombs,  pictures  as  old  as  those 
found  in  the  ruins  of  Pompeii,  overwhelmed  a.d.  Y9 
(our  own  Flaxman  corroborates  on  this  point  the  judg- 
ment of  D'Agincourt),  the  very  vestments  of  the  priests, 
and  enough  to  trace  out  distinctly  the  whole  ceremonial 
of  public  worship. 

With  what  different  eyes  would  not  those  who  scoff 
at  the  Mass,  and  the  dress  of  the  priests,  and  the 
lighted  candles,  and  the  bowings  and  bendings  of  the 
knee,  regard  these  things,  if  they  were  convinced,  that 
the  sacred  rite  is  the  very  same,  in  all  its  prominent 
features  and  essential  parts,  as  that  celebrated  in  the 
Catacombs  according  to  the  form  prescribed  in  the 
ancient  Liturgies ! 

But,  as  I  have  said  already,  this  is  a  flippant  and 
irreverent  age.  Faith  in  the  august  mysteries  of  Kevela- 
tion  is  almost  gone  from  those  who  will  not  hear  the 
Church.  There  is  no  time  to  study  the  large  tomes  of 
learned  archaeologists,  or  the  early  annals  of  Christianity, 
or  to  inquire  into  the  meaning  of  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies, carefully  transmitted  through  so  many  centuries; 
and  therefore  they  are  regarded  by  the  many  as  trifling 
and  contemptible. 

"  Why,"  says  the  sharp  colonial  youth,  "  should  candles 
be  lighted  in  the  daytime  ?  they  are  of  no  use  when  the 
sun  is  shining.     Why  should  the  priest  stand  with  his 


158     A   FURTHER  VIEW  OP  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

baxjk  to  the  people,  reading  Latin  wMch  no  one  under- 
stands ?  What  a  singular  way  of  preaching !  Why  not 
dress  like  other  men  ?  Why  hold  his  hands  extended  ? 
Was  ever  anything  more  absurd !" 

But  the  priest  is  not  preaching,  he  is  performing  a 
most  solemn  act  of  worship  peculiar  to  the  priestly  office : 
and  his  people  know  well  how  to  follow  him,  by  their 
prayer-books  through  every  part  of  the  sacred  rite.  See 
how  even  those  who  cannot  read  are  perfectly  united 
with  the  rest  of  the  congregation  in  every  movement. 
They  all,  as  one  man,  rise  or  bend  the  knee,  or  bow  down 
in  deep  reverence ;  and  these  lighted  candles,  and  all  the 
ornaments  of  the  altar,  and  vestments,  have  a  symbolical 
meaning  which  speaks  to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
initiated,  who  have  been  trained  from  infancy  to  under- 
stand every  portion  of  the  service.  These  are  sacred 
things  in  their  eyes  who  are  properly  instructed,  honored 
in  the  glowing  Faith  of  millions  of  saints,  and  venerated 
for  ages  by  united  Christendom. 

There  is  something  so  preposterous  and  revolting  to  a 
Catholic  in  this  ignorant  association  of  utilitarian  and 
business-like  notions  with  the  things  of  Faith,  that  he  can 
with  difficulty  restrain  his  feelings  of  indignation,  when 
they  are  rudely  thrust  on  his  attention  by  those  who  have 
never  taken  the  pains  to  understand  what  they  are  so 
glibly  talking  about.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  well- 
instructed  Catholic  under  these  circumstances  is  tempted 
to  beheve,  that  these  expressions  of  contempt  and  ridi- 
cule can  have  their  origin  only  in  horrible  blasphemy, 
and  supercilious  scorn  for  the  ordinances  of  God. 

But  in  truth  there  is  no  thought  of  anything  of  the 
kind.  They  who  speak  so  lightly  or  contemptuously  of 
what  we  regard  as  most  holy,  are  only  expressing  their 


THROUGH   ITS   FORMS   OF  WORSHIP.  159 

matter-of-fact  opinions  about  things  which  are  meaning- 
less to  them.  When  they  talk  freely  about  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  Catholic  worship,  they  are  only  expressing 
honest  convictions,  which  have  never  been  disturbed  by 
even  the  ghosts  and  shadows  of  ecclesiastical  learning,  or 
the  teaching  of  the  Church.  They  know  nothing  about 
"  the  ages  of  Faith,"  and  the  grand  thoughts  that  once 
formed  the  spiritual  life  of  united  Christendom. 

I  have  often  met  with  young  people  of  this  sort — who, 
I  am  sure  had  not  the  least  idea  of  giving  offence,  by 
expressing  freely  to  those  about  them  their  views  on  the 
silly  and  puerile  and  senseless  things  which  they  firmly 
believed  they  had  noticed  in  Catholic  worship.  Poor 
deluded  Papists !  they  must  have  sincerely  thought,  "  what 
has  bewitched  you,"  that  you  cannot  look  at  these  things 
with  the  light  of  common-sense,  and  see  through  the 
foolery  of  all  this  playing  at  Keligion  ! 

How  painful  it  must  be  to  the  really  thoughtful  and 
learned,  who  have  travelled  in  many  lands,  and  have, 
though  not  Catholics,  picked  up  some  information  about 
the  old  religion,  as  they  hear  the  dogmatic  opinions  about 
this  religion  freely  ventilated,  in  train  and  cart,  by  young 
people,  the  amount  of  whose  theology  about  the  Roman 
Catholic  belief  might  be  summed  up  in  the  phrase — "  the 
Pope  is  the  man  of  sin  and  the  Church  he  governs  the 
beast  of  the  Apocalypse."  I  am  never  disposed  to  be 
angry  under  these  circumstances,  and  I  know  it  would  be 
rude  to  laugh,  but  one  cannot  help  thinking  that  if  there 
is  one  position,  that  makes  an  intelligent-looking  indi- 
vidual more  ridiculous  than  another,  it  is  talking  confi- 
dently, before  those  who  are  fairly  educated,  about  things 
of  which  they  know  absolutely  nothing.  The  notions  of 
a  raw  Kaffir  about  the  locomotive  and  the  telegraph  would 


160     A  FURTHER  VIEW   OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

be  positively  refreshing,  compared  with  this  barbaric 
"  rushing  in  where  Angels  fear  to  tread." 

If  one  could  only  reason  with  them,  and  explain  what 
Catholicity  really  is — ^there  would  be  some  gratification ; 
but  alas !  these  minds  are  so  full  of  the  one  idea  on  the 
matter,  that  they  have  no  place  for  any  other.  Tell 
them,  that  the  most  gifted  children  of  art  devoted  the 
best  efforts  of  their  almost  inspired  genius  to  adorn  this 
worship  so  much  despised  by  those  who  do  not  understand 
it ;  that  painters,  and  sculptors,  and  musicians,  devoted 
their  whole  lives  to  add  one  gem  to  the  many  that  adorn 
the  brow  of  the  spouse  of  Christ,  and  they  will  look  blank 
with  amazement,  and  laugh  outright  at  the  folly,  which 
could  have  suggested  so  stupid  a  waste  of  valuable  time, 
and  so  profitless  an  expenditure  of  talents,  that  might 
have  secured  wealth  and  honor  for  their  possessors. 
Describe  to  them  a  grand  old  Cathedral — or  try  to  give 
them  a  notion  of  St.  Peter's  with  its  priceless  treasures  of 
art,  and  tell  them  that  all  this  grandeur  and  prodigality 
of  rich  ornament  in  its  glowing  groups  of  statuary,  and 
unfading  mosaics,  was  simply  to  construct  a  temple 
worthy,  as  men  could  make  it,  of  "  the  dwelling-place"  of 
God  Incarnate,  and  they  will  regard  you  as  one  who  is 
an  idle  dreamer,  and  destitute  of  an  atom  of  business 
capacity. 

But  who  can  blame  them  ?  they  have  heard  over  and 
over  again  that  Popery  is  "  a  vain  delusion,"  at  its  best — 
until  this  notion  has  become  a  settled  conviction  in  their 
minds.  It  is  no  wonder  therefore  that  they  pity  or 
despise  the  victims  of  this  strange  delusion ;  and  judge  of 
the  extravagant  folly  to  which  it  leads,  as  they  would  the 
vagaries  of  an  idle  and  thriftless  prodigal.  They  are  not 
guilty  of  the  sin  of  the  unfortunate  Apostle,  who  com- 


THROUGH  ITS  FORMS   OF  WORSHIP.  161 

plained  of  the  waste  of  the  precious  unguent,  which 
Magdalene  poured  out  on  the  sacred  feet  of  our  Lord ; 
for  he  was  covetous,  and  tried  to  veil  his  avarice  under 
the  hypocrisy  of  caring  for  the  poor.  No — ^these  young 
people,  who  are  ever  asking, — what  is  the  good  of  this 
or  that  in  some  beautiful  Catholic  Church,  and  pointing 
out  how  money  might  have  been  saved  here  and  there, 
and  are  thoroughly  utilitarian  in  their  views,  they  are  not 
hypocrites,  nor  are  they  misers.  They  are  honest  aud 
outspoken,  kind-hearted  it  may  be,  generous  and  amiable, 
and  they  make  themselves  ridiculous  to  Catholics,  or 
scandalize  them  by  their  remarks  on  ceremonial  religion, 
and  works  of  art  connected  with  the  Divine  service,  only 
because  they  know  absolutely  nothing  of  a  religion  that 
is  supernatural  in  its  teaching,  and  in  everything  that 
pertains  to  the  worship  and  honor  of  the  great  God. 

"We  Catholics  should  be  patient  when  our  religious 
rites  and  ceremonies  are  as  we  think,  rudely  and  irre- 
verently criticised.  Those  who  speak  in  this  manner 
know  not  what  they  say.  l!^o  harm  probably  is  meant 
by  them,  even  when  they  smile  broadly  and  stare  about 
them  in  our  churches,  and  disturb  those  kneeling  near, 
by  their  unseemly  remarks.  There  is  of  course  manifest 
in  this  conduct  a  want  of  good-breeding  and  ordinary 
politeness.  But  the  whole  ceremony  and  all  its  acces- 
sories is  utter  foolishness  to  them,  they  do  not  under- 
stand anything  about  it,  and  they  do  not  even  allow 
themselves  to  think  that  there  may  or  can  be  anything 
worth  knowing,  underneath  all  that  seems  to  them  so 
childish  and  unmeaning. 

If  Catholics  were  always  as  devout  as  they  should  be 
in  "  the  House  of  God,"  there  would  be  much  less  of 
this  seeming  irreverence  on  the  part  of  strangers.     If,  at 


162     A   FURTHER  VIEW   OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  Holy  Sacrifice,  or  Benediction,  they  tried  to  rise  to 
the  perceptions  of  Faith,  when  the  Immaculate  Yictim 
is  Kfted  up  for  their  adoration,  and  to  bow  down  with 
grateful  homage  to  receive  the  blessing  of  the  Emmanuel, 
non-Catholics,  who  visit  our  churches,  would  soon  learn 
respect  and  reverence  for  our  worship,  and  be  led  to 
inquire  into  the  meaning  of  those  rites  which  seem  to 
them  at  first  sight  so  strange  and  incomprehensible. 

Let  me  suppose  for  a  moment  that,  struck  by  the 
serious  and  rapt  attention  of  the  worshippers,  and  the 
sort  of  instinct  which  seems  to  guide  even  children 
through  the  solemn  services,  they  were  led  to  ask  what 
does  it  all  mean  ?  and  some  friend  were  to  offer  them  a 
prayer-book,  and  point  out  to  them  the  different  parts 
of  the  sacred  ceremony,  it  would  not  be  long  until  the 
thought  would  flash  across  their  minds,  that  something, 
which  they  had  never  comprehended  before,  was  taking 
place  under  their  eyes.  "  What,"  they  might  be  led  to 
say  to  themselves,  "  if  it  be  true  that,  under  these  out- 
ward rites,  which  we  have  been  always  taught  to  regard 
as  senseless  mummeries,  there  is  enacted  an  awful  mys- 
tery, and  that  God  the  Saviour  is  really  present,  veiled 
under  the  whiteness  of  the  Host  f  I  can  easily  imagine 
the  shame  and  regret  which  would  overwhelm  them  for 
their  irreverence. 

Thousands  are  every  day  wakening  up  to  this  correct 
view  of  Catholic  worship.  They  enter  a  Catholic  church 
with  much  the  same  feeling  of  idle  curiosity  as  would  lead 
them  to  a  theatre.  They  thank  God  perhaps  that  they 
are  not  like  the  superstitious  crowd,  who,  at  the  signal  of 
the  bell,  bow  down  and  strike  their  breasts ;  and  they 
smile  at  the  spectacle  of  apparent  fervor,  and  freely  ex- 
change with  their  companions  their  jests  and  mockery  at 


THROUGH  ITS  FORMS   OF  WORSHIP.  163 

every  movement  of  the  priest  and  congregation.  But 
gradually  as  they  note  the  unmistakable  earnestness,  and 
the  ease  with  which  all  join  in  the  forms  of  worship,  and 
see  that  the  indications  of  their  superior  wisdom  are  un- 
heeded, and  that  sometimes  their  rude  stare  is  met  with  a 
glance  of  pity,  they  begin  to  wonder  what  it  is  that  can 
produce  this  reverent  attention;  and  an  impression  is 
often  made  that  is  never  forgotten,  and  which,  if  not 
chased  away  by  frivolity  and  silly  talk,  is  sure  to  lead  to 
sincere  and  earnest  inquiry.  When  the  congregation 
manifests  an  edifying  attention,  and  seems  to  realize  the 
grand  and  awful  nature  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  it  will  be 
the  means  of  effecting  many  a  real  conversion. 

Worldly-minded  people  will  of  course  account  for  all 
this  in  their  own  way.  They  will  say,  "  Yes,  no  doubt 
the  Romish  rite  is  attractive,  because  it  is  purposely  con- 
trived to  work  on  the  senses."  And  they  are  right  so 
far :  it  is  attractive,  and  it  does  reach  the  soul  through 
sense,  and  it  has  been  so  arranged  from  the  very  begin- 
ning, but  only  that  it  may  raise  the  soul  above  the  things 
of  earth,  and  bring  it  into  pure  and  sweet  communion 
with  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  is  meant  precisely  to  do  all 
this,  and  when  not  resisted  by  unreasoning  pride  and  the 
force  of  prejudice,  will  always  be  a  wonderful  help  to 
bring  the  well-disposed  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

Men  who  have  a  contempt  for  Faith,  as  it  is  under- 
stood in  Catholic  Christianity,  are  always  sneering  at  the 
credulity  and  superstition  of  Catholics.  "  Papists,"  they 
say,  "  will  believe  anything  no  matter  how  absurd." 

I  reply.  Catholics  will  believe  everything  that  is  re- 
vealed by  God,  and  taught  by  His  Infallible  Church, 
no  matter  how  incomprehensible  it  may  seem  ;  and  it  is 
chiefly  to  awaken  Faith,  and  to  strengthen  and  develop 


164     A  FURTHER  VIEW   OF   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

it,  by  the  aid  of  the  senses,  that  there  is  all  this  pomp 
and  ceremony  in  Catholic  worship.  Once  this  is  clearly 
understood  by  strangers,  and  the  frozen  barrier  of  pre- 
judice which  chills  anything  like  the  ardor  of  true  de- 
votion, is  broken  through,  a  glimpse  is  then  caught  of 
the  bright  and  Heavenly  beauty  beyond.  Clouds  and 
mists  depart,  and  the  thirsting  soul  is  borne  onward  on 
the  wings  of  desire  to  the  fountain  of  living  water, 
springing  up,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  to  life  eternal. 
There  will  of  course  be  many  difficulties,  and  trials, 
and  obstacles,  in  the  way,  but  they  will  melt  into  nothing 
before  the  ever-kindling  light  of  eternal  truth.  Old 
thoughts  wUl  attempt  to  resume  their  influence,  and  turn 
from  his  course  the  honest  inquirer.  "This  is  the 
Church,"  he  will  say  to  himself,  "that  I  was  so  long 
taught  to  hate  as  the  mystery  of  abomination ;  this  is  the 
idolatrous,  soul-enslaving  enemy  of  Christ ;  this  is  the 
superstitious  creed  which  debased  and  degraded  the  in- 
tellect for  so  many  ages."  These  were  once  formidable 
objections,  preventing  him  from  looking  in  the  direction 
of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  but  now,  that  the  possibility  of 
the  truth  of  Catholic  doctrine,  and  the  real  nature  of 
Catholic  worship  has  flashed  upon  his  mind,  there  arises 
simultaneously  a  suspicion  that  what  he  had  so  often 
heard,  without  question,  may  be  altogether  false.  These 
ugly  names  and  these  solemn  denunciations  of  Popery  in 
every  shape  and  form  may  after  all,  he  begins  to  think, 
have  been  the  offspring  of  interested  zeal,  and  misrepre- 
sentation, and  calumny.  Better  thoughts  will  follow  in 
this  struggle  after  truth.  "If  God  has  spoken  to  the 
Church,  and  revealed  certain  truths  about  His  own  nature, 
and  the  economy  of  salvation,  these  truths  being  beyond 
the  reach  of  human  perception,  must  be  mysteries.     Al- 


THROUGH   ITS  FORMS   OF  WORSHIP.  165 

though  I  cannot  comprehend  them,  I  am  bound,  out  of 
respect  to  God  and  to  the  infallible  teacher  appointed  by 
Him  to  instruct  me,  to  accept  them  reverently.  There 
can  be  no  degradation  of  the  intellect  in  believing  what 
we  know  with  certainty  to  have  been  taught  by  Divine 
Truth  itself. 

"If  Christians  for  so  many  ages  agreed  in  adoring 
Christ  really  present  in  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  and  in 
the  Eucharist,  and  if  the  same  belief  was  cherished  by 
the  Faithful  in  the  very  infancy  of  the  Church,  there  can 
be  no  idolatry  in  adoring  the  Lord  and  Saviour  present 
in  this  manner.  The  early  Christians  were  taught  by  the 
Apostles  themselves  and  by  their  immediate  successors,  and 
must  have  worshipped  in  a  way  that  they  knew  was  pleas- 
ing to  their  Divine  Master.  Surely  they  loved  Him  with 
all  their  hearts,  who  responded  to  the  appeal  of  an 
Apostle  with  tears  and  lamentations,  vehemently  declar- 
ing that  the  Pagans  might  wring  out  their  life-blood 
rather  than  force  them  to  deny  Christ.  He  must  have 
loved  them  in  return.  He  could  not  have  been  displeased 
with  them,  because  they  clung  to  the  belief  in  His  pro- 
mise of  being  always  with  them,  and  testifying  the  reality 
and  earnestness  of  their  confidence  in  Hjs  Word,  by  their 
expressive  worship.  IS'ay  He  must  have  blessed  them, 
as  they  clustered  round  the  altars  in  the  Catacombs,  es- 
teeming it  their  greatest  happiness  in  the  midst  of  cruel 
persecution  for  His  name's  sake,  that  they  could  partake 
of  His  Body  and  Blood  and  be  made  one  with  Him  in  the 
great  sacrament.  And  if  so.  He  must  be  blessing,  with 
His  choicest  benedictions,  those  Cathohcs,  who,  in  the 
face  of  the  ridicule  and  scorn  of  an  unbelieving  world, 
cling  to  this  old  Faith,  and  honor  His  presence  in  their 
midst  by  an  outward  worship  as  old,  in  its  peculiar  form 


166     A  FURTHER  VIEW  OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

and  ceremonial,  as  that  clearly  indicated  in  the  earliest 
Christian  monuments  and  the  venerable  Liturgies.  If 
Catholics  are  wrong,  it  can  only  be,  because  they  cherish 
notions  too  exalted  of  the  Infinite  power,  and  the  Infinite 
mercy,  and  the  Infinite  loving  condescension  of  God  our 
Saviour.  And,  awful  thought !  if  I  am  wrong  in  prefer- 
ring the  views  and  opinions  of  those  who  rebelled  against 
the  Old  Church,  and  taught  me  to  deride  and  blaspheme 
this  mystery  of  Divine  love,  whither  shall  I  fly  from 
His  wrath  and  where  shall  I  hide  my  shame  ?" 

This  is  the  natural  flow  of  thought  that  brings  many 
into  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  who  have  been  interested 
in  inquiring  into  the  meaning  of  her  ceremonial,  and  in 
watching  its  effects  on  the  souls  of  earnest  believers. 
Thus  it  is  that  one  ray  of  light,  emanating  from  the 
sanctuary — ^is  sufficient  to  indicate  to  a  man  who  honestly 
desires  to  find  out  the  truth,  the  hideous  deformity  of 
those  spectres  of  the  imagination,  that  rise  up  before 
him  from  the  rank  soil  of  long-accumulated  prejudices. 

It  does  not  require  much  study  or  instruction  to  com- 
plete the  conversion  of  any  one,  whom  God  in  mercy 
has  allowed  to  be  seriously  struck  with  the  profound 
meaning  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  Church.  He 
has  got  the  key  which  unlocks  the  treasure  committed  to 
her  keeping.  He  sees,  by  a  sort  of  intuition,  that  the 
bowing  and  repeated  genuflections,  and  the  incense,  and 
lights,  and  the  rich  ornaments,  are  all  directed  to  one 
object,  to  show  respect  to  the  Saviour  really  present. 
The  very  peculiarity  of  the  rite,  so  unlike  anything  in- 
vented and  authorized  by  worldly  fashions,  and  the 
changing  caprice  of  men,  commends  it  to  his  admiration. 

It  is,  he  sees,  the  time-honored  ceremonial  to  be  ob- 
served by  His  ministers  and  attendants  in  the  presence  of 


THROUGH   ITS   FORMS   OF  WORSHIP.  167 

the  Great  King.  As  the  Master  of  Ceremonies,  and  tlie 
Lord  Chamberlain,  in  attendance  on  an  earthly  sovereign, 
direct  all  the  minutiae  of  the  dress  and  movements  of  the 
privileged  few,  who  pass  in  procession  before  the  throne, 
or  wait  on  Majesty ;  so,  at  the  High  Mass,  there  is  the 
proper  officer,  to  see  that  the  Sacred  Ritual,  handed  down 
from  primitive  times,  is  carefully  observed.  "  And  this 
then,"  he  says,  "  is  the  clean  oblation  foretold  by  the 
last  of  the  prophets ;  Christ,  the  priest  forever  according 
to  the  order  of  Melchisedech,  is  here  at  once  priest  and 
victim,  and  by  the  hands  of  the  visible  priest  officiating 
at  the  Altar,  is  offering  Himself  to  His  Heavenly  Father, 
to  apply  to  the  souls  of  the  worshippers,  the  fruits  of  His 
Redemption."  What  a  vision  of  marvellous  beauty  rises 
up  before  the  mind  of  one  thus  initiated  into  the  mys- 
tery of  Catholic  worship!  This  is  the  eternal,  never- 
ceasing  sacrifice,  "  offered  up  from  the  rising  to  the  set- 
ting of  the  sun,"  not  confined  to  one  place,  but  celebrated 
over  the  whole  world,  not  alone  in  stately  Cathedrals,  but 
in  the  little  way-side  chapel,  or  the  Cave  like  that  of 
Bethlehem,  wherever  there  are  assembled  "  the  true  ador- 
ers in  spirit  and  in  truth"  (John  iv.  23).  And  thus  Cath- 
olics in  every  land,  wherever  there  is  a  priest  and  an 
altar,  can  worship  in  a  manner  pleasing  to  God  ;  for  they 
can,  while  the  priest  performs  the  sacred  action,  each  fol- 
lowing his  own  devotion,  say  in  the  secret  of  their  hearts 
— "  Behold,  O  God  our  Protector,  and  look  on  the  face  of 
Thy  Christ"  (Ps.  Ixxxiii.  10) ;  for  His  sake,  here  present 
in  our  midst,  have  mercy  on  us,  and  forgive  us  our  mani- 
fold offences !  And,  as  if  this  were  not  enough,  each  of 
the  worshippers  may  take  into  his  heart  the  spotless 
Lamb,  and  be  made  one  with  Jesus,  a  child  of  God  and 
an  heir  to  Heaven.     How  the  vision  grows  in  beauty  and 


168     A   FURTHER  VIEW   OP  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

majesty,  as,  by  a  sort  of  instinct,  lie  traces  the  connection 
between  the  Blessed  Eucharist  and  the  Incarnation,  be- 
tween the  Sacred  Heart  and  the  Holy  Communion,  and 
begins  to  see  one  great  Mystery  unfolding  itself  from 
another ;  and  perceives  for  the  first  time  the  wonderful 
invention  of  Almighty  Love,  whereby  the  blessed  fruits 
of  Calvary  are  brought  home  to  every  true  believer,  in- 
dividually and  personally. 

How  soon  in  his  mind  every  dogma  of  CathoHc  Chris- 
tianity takes  its  proper  place !  The  whole  sacramental 
system  is,  he  sees,  nothing  more  nor  less  than  Christ 
really  present  in  the  midst  of  His  people  for  evermore 
— passing  along,  blessing  and  touching  with  His  hand 
those  who  stand  in  need  of  His  help.  Here  bestowing 
the  new  life  in  Baptism ;  there  strengthening  by  the  gift 
of  the  Paraclete,  the  children  of  the  Faith ;  now  break- 
ing the  fetters  of  the  sinner,  and  whispering  sweet  words 
of  comfort — "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven,  go  in  peace."  Again 
he  sees  Him  soothing  the  affrighted  soul  at  the  approach 
of  the  dread  agony,  "  Fear  not,  it  is  I,"  who  conquered 
death,  and  who  will  raise  you  up  again  when  you  have 
passed  from  this  weary  world ;  then  communicating  to 
His  priests  the  same  commission  once  given  to  the 
Apostles — "  Whose  sins  you  shall  forgive,  they  shall  be 
forgiven."  "  Do  this  in  commemoration  of  me."  "  As 
tlie  Father  hath  sent  me,  I  send  you ;"  and  again  in  the 
Holy  Sacrament  of  Matrimony  blessing  that  happy  union, 
which  before  God  and  His  angels  symbolizes  the  Union 
of  Christ  with  His  mystic  spouse  the  Church.  Mary 
the  Mother  of  God  at  once  rises  to  her  honored  position, 
Queen  of  Heaven,  Faithful  Guardian  of  the  Incarnation, 
and  because  of  her  free-will  she  became  "  the  hand-maid 
of  the   Lord,"   and  enabled  Him  to  show  visibly  His 


THROUGH   ITS  FORMS   OF   WORSHIP.  169 

great  love  for  man,  made  the  dispensatrix  of  His  special 
grace  and  favors.  And  scarcely  has  he  beheld  this  bright 
vision  dawning  upon  him  than,  like  the  Shepherds  on 
Christmas  night,  he  beholds  the  blessed  angels  and  saints 
of  God,  fulfilling  their  happy  functions  of  messengers  of 
peace,  rejoicing  at  the  conversion  of  one  sinner,  smiling 
upon  him  and  inviting  him,  at  all  sacrifices  to  enter  into 
the  one  fold. 

And  then  there  is  another  vision,  full  of  comfort  to 
such  a  one  as  this.  The  ties  that  bind  him  to  father  and 
mother,  brothers,  and  sisters,  and  dear  friends  who  may 
have  passed  away,  are  not  severed.  They,  he  believes, 
loved  God  in  their  own  way,  and  though  they  were  not 
externally  united  to  the  fold,  they  really  desired  to  do  in 
all  things  the  blessed  will  of  God,  and  so,  before  they 
were  called  to  judgment,  they  may  have  received  the 
great  grace  of  true  Faith  and  thus  are  saved  "  yet  so  as 
by  fire ;"  and  he  learns  that  he  may  pray  for  them,  that 
the  time  of  their  suffering  may  be  shortened,  and  may 
hope  that  everything  he  does  to  please  God,  and  offers 
for  them,  may  soothe  their  sorrows,  and  hasten  the  mo- 
ment of  their  deliverance.  In  a  word,  the  simple  under- 
standing of  the  nature  of  Catholic  worship,  is  in  itself 
sufficient  to  give  the  sincere  and  humble  inquirer  after 
truth,  a  glimpse  of  the  supernatural  life,  which  every 
Catholic  may  enjoy  in  this  world. 

True,  there  are  many  Catholics  who  do  not  realize  these 
privileges,  and  there  are,  unfortunately  for  themselves, 
some,  who  having  been  brought  from  darkness  into  light, 
have  sinned  against  the  light,  and  fallen  back  into  dark- 
ness again.  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  they,  who  trifle 
thus  with  Faith,  the  most  precious  of  God's  gifts,  will 
escape  the  everlasting  wrath,  should  the  dread  summons 


170  A  FURTHER  VIEW  OF  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

to  judgment  find  them  "  sitting  in  darkness  and  in  the 
shadow  of  death." 

I  hope,  in  the  next  chapter,  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of 
that  misrepresentation  and  caricature  of  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity, which  is  assailed  by  those,  who,  while  they  imar 
gine  they  are  attacking  the  Catholic  Church,  show,  by 
their  objections,  that  they  never  had  any  perception  of  its 
real  character.  There  are  some  also  who  having  once 
enjoyed  the  happy  vision,  allowed  it  to  fade  away  from 
their  view,  and  perish  by  the  wilful  neglect  of  their 
spiritual  duties.  These  are  most  to  be  pitied,  for  they  sin 
against  the  light,  and  allow  themselves  voluntarily  to  be 
blindfolded  by  the  spirit  of  the  world.  They  abuse  the 
Church  with  a  fierceness  that  extinguishes  remorse,  and 
suffer  their  desolate  and  despairing  souls  to  be  trampled 
upon  by  the  legion  of  low  and  earthly  desires,  and  the 
hordes  of  wild  speculations,  that  invariably  overwhelm 
and  hopelessly  extinguish  the  expiring  embers  of  a  lost 
Faith. 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  MISUNDERSTOOD.     171 


CHAPTEE  YIIL 

Catholic  Christianity  Misunderstood  by  Free- 
thinkers. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter,  I  have  endeavored  to  ^x  the 
attention  of  my  readers  on  the  supernatural  charac- 
ter of  Catholic  Christianity;  because  it  is  this  which 
eminently  distinguishes  it  from  all  other  forms  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  because  it  is  the  very  quality  which  most 
exposes  it  to  the  assaults  of  Eationalism.  Amongst  the 
Christian  sects  outside  the  Catholic  Church,  there  is  prac- 
tically nothing  of  the  supernatural. 

In  some  sects  there  is  indeed  a  claim  to  supernatural 
guidance  of  a  sensible  kind.  The  Divine  Spirit,  they 
say,  bears  testimony  to  Himself  in  the  work  of  conver- 
sion, and  manifests  to  the  converted  soul  the  sweetness 
of  interior  peace.  This  is  however  merely  subjective, 
confined  to  individual  experience;  and  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  open  to  delusion. 

Worldly  men  regard  this  religious  excitement  as  a  sort 
of  madness,  that  may  produce  the  most  deplorable  effects 
on  the  unfortunate  being  who  is  possessed  by  this  spirit 
of  delusion,  and  highly  dangerous  to  the  nervous  suscep- 
tibilities of  others  who  witness  the  effects  of  this  passing 
frenzy. 

It  is  not  of  the  supernatural  in  this  sense,  I  speak,  but 
of  that  which  is  objective,  or  resulting  from  positive 
dogma.  The  whole  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic 
Church  are  most  intimately  connected  with  the  unseen 


172      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  MISUNDERSTOOD 

world.  An  earnest  Catholic  lives  in  a  very  atmosphere 
of  Faith.  God  and  His  providence  is  ever  near  him. 
He  feels  that  "  in  God,  he  moves,  and  has  his  being." 
He  almost  hears  the  rustle  of  Angelic  wings.  He  knows 
that  at  solemn  times  his  Divine  Saviour  stoops  to  liim. 
He  communes  with  the  sainted  dead,  and  the  suffering 
Church  of  the  faithful  departed.  This  is  what  the  Ration- 
alist cannot  in  the  least  understand,  and  most  non-Catho- 
Hcs  are  in  the  same  position.  It  is  foolishness  to  them, 
and  downright  superstition.  There  was  a  time  however 
when  the  entire  Christian  world  felt  the  Spirit  of  God 
pervading  not  only  the  whole  mystic  body  of  Christ,  but 
diffusing  itself  through  every  member  of  the  vast  fold ; 
not  alone  in  their  midst  when  gathered  together  for 
prayer,  but  ever,  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places.  Then 
men  walked  in  God's  presence,  feared  to  offend  Him,  and 
aspired  to  commune  with  Him  lovingly.  We  are,  how- 
ever, gravely  warned  that  these  were  "the  dark  ages," 
and  reminded  constantly,  by  the  leaders  of  Free-thought, 
that  we  now  live  in  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
when  all  these  old-fashioned  notions  have  passed  away 
forever.  These  convictions  live  with  undying  Hfe,  how- 
ever, in  God's  Church  still,  and  they  are  the  natural  out- 
come of  her  Faith. 

This  is  the  chief  reason  why  Eationalists  assail  the 
Church.  As  a  rule,  educated  men  of  this  class  have  noth- 
ing to  say  about  "  Antichrist,"  and  "the  scarlet  woman," 
and  "  Idolatry,"  and  "  Blasphemy,"  and  "  the  abomina- 
tions"— subjects  still  most  dear  to  ignorant  Christian 
fanaticism.  They  are  kind  and  respectful  to  the  old 
Church  :  they  pity  her  because  she  will,  they  say,  keep 
to  her  old-fashioned  ways ;  and  they  would  be  delighted 
beyond  measure  if  she  would  only  take  up  some  at  least 


BY  FREE-THINKERS.  173 

of  their  notions  of  progress.  "  Poor  old  thing  !"  thej 
seem  to  say,  "  she  is  so  good,  and  so  respectable,  so  hal- 
lowed by  the  traditions  of  nineteen  hundred  years,  so  free 
from  the  silly  airs  and  pretensions  of  these  vulgar  Chris- 
tian upstarts  of  yesterday,  so  sound  in  her  moral  princi- 
ples of  right  and  wrong,  so  conservative,  so  unchangeable ! 
What  a  pity  'tis  she  is  so  obstinate  in  her  views.  She 
will  cling  to  these  antiquated  notions  of  the  Mosaic  nar- 
rative, and  pay  no  heed  to  the  demonstrations  of  our 
scientific  men,  and  close  her  eyes  and  ears  to  the  marvels 
of  discovery.  And  then,  worse  than  all,  she  is  so  intol- 
erant. She  would,  if  she  dared,  persecute  to  the  death 
all  who  presume  to  differ  from  her,  and  when  she  can- 
not crush  her  opponents  in  this  way,  she  will  try  to 
satisfy  her  impotent  rage  by  consigning  them  without 
exception  to  eternal  flames.  She  does  not  seem  to  per- 
ceive the  folly  of  imagining  that  men  of  learning  are  to 
be  frightened,  like  children,  with  these  insane  threats  of 
a  future,  of  which  we  can  absolutely  know  nothing.  It 
makes  one  miserable  to  hear  her  talk  so  confidently  of  a 
Personal  God,  and  Saints  and  Angels,  and  miracles  and 
mysteries,  as  if  we  had  not  '  changed  all  that,'  and  demon- 
strated that  whatever  is  beyond  the  reach  of  our  tele- 
scopes, and  microscopes,  and  spectroscopes,  and  the  power 
of  our  combined  scientific  apparatus,  cannot,  by  any 
stretch  of  the  mind,  have  a  real  existence,  l^o  doubt 
she  is  very  angry  because  our  Railways  and  Telegraphs 
are  disturbing  her  repose,  and  our  grand  discoveries  in 
Electricity  are  putting  to  flight  the  hobgoblins,  on  which 
she  feeds  her  crazy  imagination.  If  she  would  only  con- 
fine her  attention  to  these  trifles,  about  which  this  gen- 
eration of  progress  is  only  am^8ed,  and  gratify  the  mor- 
bid taste  of  her  infatuated  votaries  with  tales  of  Hell-fire 


174     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   MISUNDERSTOOD 

and  sucli  like  nonsense,  one  could  bear  witli  her  insane 
fancies,  and  set  them  down  to  the  natural  dotage  of  an 
existence  prolonged  beyond  all  natural  limits.  But  then 
she  is  mischievous,  and  uses  all  her  influence,  which  is 
no  doubt  something  superior  to  any  power  on  earth  [the 
immortality  of  the  Church  and  her  widespread  influence 
are  hard  facts  for  the  infidel],  to  check  the  onward  march 
of  mind,  and  the  advance  of  true  civilization.  She  will 
oppose  our  wise  laws  about  education,  and  marriage,  and 
those  other  national  institutions,  with  which  she  has 
nothing  to  do,  and  meddle  with  our  arrangements  about 
liberty,  and  equality,  and  the  rights  of  men,  and  the 
rights  of  women,  and  what  not,  that  one  loses  all  patience, 
and  would  wish  her  sunk  forever  in  the  depths  of  the 
sea." 

This  is  I  think  a  fair  statement  of  the  views  of  Free- 
thought  about  "  the  everlasting  Church  ;"  and  I  mean  to 
point  out  how  utterly  mistaken  they  are,  and  how  un- 
reasonable is  the  hatred  to  which  they  almost  insensibly 
give  rise,  in  the  minds  of  the  impatient  and  noisy  unbe- 
lieving crowd  that  worship  the  idol  of  the  hour,  and 
would,  if  they  had  their  way,  plant  again  the  goddess  of 
reason  on  the  Altar  of  the  one  true  God. 

What  I  meant  to  show  in  the  last  few  pages,  is  that 
the  dislike,  and  hatred,  and  contempt  for  the  Church, 
that  sooner  or  later  develops  itself  in  the  minds  of  Free- 
thinkers, is  altogether  different  from  the  no-popery  fury, 
which  has  assailed  the  Church  for  the  last  three-hundred 
years.  The  Church  is  an  object  of  dislike  to  the  leaders 
of  Free-thought,  not  because  of  the  calumnies  of  times 
past,  now  constantly  refuted  by  the  laborious  research  of 
able  and  unprejudiced  scholars ;  not  because  there  were 
said  to  have  been  bad  popes ;  nor  because  the  theology  of 


BY  FREE-THINKERS.  176 

the  Churcli,  misrepresented  by  her  enemies,  was  offensive 
on  grace,  and  free-will,  and  justification;  not  even  on 
account  of  the  grosser  charges  of  idolatry  and  trafficking 
in  holy  things,  which  were  so  freely  urged  against  her  by 
the  early  reformers ;  but  simply  and  solely  because  she 
at  the  present  day  is  believed,  by  her  stanch  and  rigid 
conservatism,  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  realization  of 
those  Utopian  schemes  of  communism  and  socialism, 
which  are  the  unhallowed  fascination  of  this  unbelieving 
and  frivolous  age. 

It  will  be  interesting  then  to  consider  the  grounds  of 
this  fierce  hatred.  This  narrows  the  question  considera- 
bly. We  have  not  to  enter  upon  the  ocean  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal history,  and  overhaul  every  cargo  of  offensive  rubbish 
fished  from  the  surface  of  political  events,  and  floated  by 
the  perverse  ingenuity  of  party  zeal.  We  may  leave  the 
past  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  devote  all  our  attention  to 
the  facts  and  principles  of  the  present  hour. 

Is  it  a  fact  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  Catholic 
Church  stands  in  the  way  of  scientific  research?  I  say 
decidedly — no.  From  my  own  limited  reading,  and 
from  my  own  experience  of  the  development  of  scientific 
education  in  our  colleges  and  schools,  I  can  bear  unfalter- 
ing testimony  to  the  very  contrary.  It  has  been  my  good 
fortune  to  have  met,  amongst  the  Catholic  clergy  in 
England,  Ireland,  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  some 
of  these  giants  in  the  vanguard  of  scientific  progress,  men 
whose  brilliant  discoveries  are  known  to  every  learned 
institute  in  the  whole  world. 

There  are  few  students  who  have  not  heard  of  the 
renowned  astronomer  Father  Secchi,  or  the  distinguished 
microscopist,  the  Abbe  Count  Castracani.  I  have  con- 
versed with  them  both,  and  learned  from  them  something 


176      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   MISUNDERSTOOD 

of  the  profound  interest  with  which  their  discoveries 
were  received  by  their  scientific  brethren  in  the  priest- 
hood. I  often  look  back  with  unfading  pleasure  to  the 
scene  of  Doctor  Callan's  scientific  triumphs,  in  the  col- 
lege of  Maynooth,  when  eminent  men  in  physical  science 
gathered  eagerly  to  witness  the  progress  of  his  discoveries 
and  inventions  in  Galvanism,  and  Magnetism.  It  was  a 
delight  ever  to  be  treasured  in  memory,  a  visit  to  the 
magnetic  observatory  of  the  Jesuit  college  of  Stoney- 
hurst.  The  Astronomer  Royal  in  England  holds  Father 
Perry,  and  Father  Sidgreaves,  amongst  the  most  eminent 
of  his  observers.  So  great  was  the  success  of  the  Jesuit 
college  in  the  Rue  des  Postes  in  Paris  in  competing  with 
the  Polytechnique,  for  the  best  prizes  in  science  and  the 
higher  mathematics,  that  a  commission  of  learned  scholars 
was  appointed  by  the  late  Emperor,  to  examine  into  the 
course  of  the  studies  in  this  college,  and  to  import  the 
fruit  of  their  investigation  into  the  favorite  scientific  col- 
lege of  France.  When  I  was  in  Paris  in  1875,  I  met  a 
young  French  priest  of  the  order  of  Oblates,  who  was 
editing  a  polyglot  dictionary  of  the  different  dialects  of 
the  Esquimaux,  and  who,  though  not  over  thirty  years  of 
age,  was  appointed  to  lecture  at  the  different  scientific 
assemblies  gathered  from  all  parts  in  that  year,  in  the 
capital  of  France. 

Whoever  has  visited  any  of  the  great  Catholic  Colleges 
in  Great  Britain,  or  on  the  Continent,  will  be  amazed  at 
the  splendid  museums,  and  costly  scientific  apparatus  to 
be  found  in  every  one  of  them.  If  I  had  a  list  by  me 
of  eminent  mathematicians,  and  workers  in  Natural 
Philosophy,  I  could  give  an  array  of  names  with  the  pre- 
fix of  Abbe,  or  some  such  word  indicative  of  the  priest- 
hood, that  would  prove  beyond  doubt  that  the  Catholic 


BY   FREE-THINKERS.  177 

Church  has  now,  as  ever,  her  representatives  in  fair  pro- 
portion to  other  creeds,  and  in  high  position  also. 

Why  should  she  not  ?  seeing  that  her  clergy,  Kegular 
and  Secular,  are  eminently  qualified  by  their  ordinary 
studies  to  enter  on  this  particular  course  if  they  are  so 
inclined ;  and  that  those  who  are  not  actively  engaged  in 
mission  work,  have  more  time  and  better  opportunities, 
in  the 'libraries  and  laboratories  of  the  numerous  colleges, 
than  the  generality  of  other  students ;  seeing  also  that  the 
shortest  way  to  distinction,  and  to  the  esteem  and  ap- 
proval of  the  great  dignitaries  of  the  Catholic  Church,  is 
success  in  those  branches  that  are  now  so  popular. 

Then  it  must  be  remembered  that  "  the  science  of 
sciences" — Theology,  necessarily  includes  all  the  facts, 
and  theories,  and  objections,  gleaned  in  the  fields  of 
scientific  research.  He  can  scarcely  be  considered  a 
profound  theologian  who  is  not  au  courcmt  with  the 
latest  discoveries  in  Geology,  Chemistry,  Medicine, 
Archaeology,  and  the  laws  that  govern  the  physical 
world. 

People  are  sometimes  amazed  by  the  accurate  know- 
ledge displayed  by  barristers,  when  the  case  in  which 
they  are  engaged  is  connected  with  some  other  learned 
profession.  But  students  know  well,  that  it  does  not  re- 
quire much  time  or  labor,  for  a  clever  man  to  read  up  all 
that  is  necessary  for  the  thorough  understanding  of  any 
particular  branch  of  science.  The  real  wonder  is  to  find 
so  many  theologians,  who  seem  to  have  accumulated,  in 
the  course  of  forty  or  fifty  years'  study,  everything  that 
is  essential  to  the  full  understanding  of  all  the  sciences ; 
and  who  are  able  to  lecture,  at  an  hour's  notice,  de  omni 
re  sdhili  ;  and  run  the  gauntlet  of  a  public  thesis  which 
will  include  the  objections  that  can  be  raised  from  the 


178     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   MISUNDERSTOOD 

discoveries  of  every  brancli  of  science  against  revealed 
religion. 

There  is  not  one  of  the  great  Catholic  colleges  in  Eu- 
rope, and  America,  which  will  not  furnish  its  quota  of 
these  learned  men.  Why — I  say  again,  should  it  not  be 
so  ?  Will  it  be  said  that  the  Church  is  afraid  of  the 
light  ?  she,  the  city  on  the  mountain,  that  for  nearly 
nineteen  hundred  years  has  been  the  object  of  assault  of 
all  the  ungodly  powers  of  earth  and  Hell !  Ah ! — no,  she 
is  too  experienced  in  conflicts  of  every  kind,  to  hide  her 
head  at  the  approach  of  any  enemy,  however  inflated  he 
may  be  with  that  knowledge  "  that  puffeth  up,"  she  heeds 
not  the  angry  frown,  and  the  scorn,  and  contempt  of 
the  unbelieving  Philosophers  of  this  proud  age.  Greater 
men  than  any  this  nineteenth  century  can  boast  of, — men 
who,  in  the  schools  of  Athens,  and  Rome,  and  Alex- 
andria, had  been  trained  to  think  and  reason  profoundly, 
bowed  down  before  her  learned  priests,  and  acknow- 
ledged themselves  overcome. 

Our  scientists  are  so  full  of  theorizing,  and  making 
much  of  every  chance  discovery  that  falls  in  their  way, 
that  they  have  not  time  for  the  tedious  process  of  think- 
ing out  a  subject.  They  are  so  captivated  with  every 
fresh  invention,  that  they  forget  the  theories  and  con- 
clusions announced  so  dogmatically  a  month  or  two  be- 
fore. If  in  their  hurried  course,  they  should  chance  to 
stumble  on  a  fact  not  hitherto  known,  they  are  so  jubilant 
and  triumphant,  that  they  do  not  perceive  that,  while 
they  are  making  merry  at  the  expense  of  Religion,  the 
scientific  sons  of  the  Church  have  abeady  seized  upon  the 
fact,  and  turned  it  to  the  advantage  of  CathoHc  Chris- 
tianity. They  do  not  know  when  they  are  beaten ;  and  it 
is  only  when  their  over-excited  fancies  have  plunged  them 


BY   FREE-THINKERS.  179 

into  some  absurd  conclusion,  that  they  become  aware,  by 
the  laughter  and  derision  caused  by  their  ridiculous  posi- 
tion, that  they  have  run  counter  to  common-sense,  and 
perpetrated  the  stupid  blunder  of  arguing  against  what 
every  one  but  themselves  knows  to  be  quite  certain. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  too  much  light.  The  mind 
under  such  circumstances  becomes  dazed.  Just  as  the 
physical  organ  suffers,  and  temporary  blindness  ensues, 
when  the  chamber  of  the  eye  is  over-filled  with  the  lumi- 
nous medium,  so  the  mind  itseK  seems  to  break  down, 
when  no  restraint  is  offered  to  the  flood  of  fancies  let  in 
upon  it  by  a  disordered  imagination. 

There  is  no  place  for  wild  theories  in  the  mind  of  a 
sound  Catholic  philosopher.  If  there  seems  to  be  a  jar- 
ring or  conflict  between  some  unexpected  discovery  in 
nature  and  Divine  Eevelation,  he  feels  at  once  the  con- 
viction that  the  contradiction  is  not  real.  He  knows 
beyond  doubt  that  what  Divine  truth  declares,  either  by 
direct  Revelation,  or  in  the  book  of  ]N"ature,  cannot  be  in 
conflict.  And  therefore  he  calmly  considers  how  the 
seeming  discrepancy  can  be  reconciled. 

It  most  frequently  happens,  as  I  have  already  said,  that 
while  the  unbeliever  is  rashly  exulting  in  a  supposed  vic- 
tory over  revealed  truth,  the  Catholic  finds  in  this  object 
of  misplaced  joy,  a  confirmation  of  his  faith.  Whoever 
will  read  attentively  ^'  The  Lectures  on  Science  and  Re- 
vealed Religion"  by  Cardinal  Wiseman,  will  discover 
many  remarkable  instances  of  this  fact. 

There  is  one  that  just  now  strikes  me,  and  as  it  seems 
to  put  the  point  very  clearly,  I  mention  it.  I  have,  in 
the  early  chapters  of  this  book,  quoted  Mallock.  In  Chap- 
ter XII.  of  his  work — "  Is  life  worth  living  ?" — ^he  puts 
the  objection  from  historical  science  against  the  Bible 


180      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   MISUNDERSTOOD 

very  strongly — ^that  the  liistories  of  other  religions  are 
strangely  analogous  to  the  history  of  Christianity.  It  is 
an  old  objection,  as  indeed  are  all  the  objections  now  so 
confidently  urged  by  Free-thinkers,  all,  every  one  with- 
out exception,  "  as  old  as  the  hills."  The  force  of  the 
objection  is  to  show  that  all  religions  had  a  common 
origin  ;  and  that  Christianity,  with  all  its  mysteries  and 
supernatural  dogmas,  can  be  clearly  traced  in  the  sacred 
books  of  Eeligions,  that  existed  in  the  world  long  before 
the  time  of  Christ.  It  is  a  favorite  objection  with  the 
"  poor  imitations  of  polished  ungodliness."  It  was  put 
to  me  once,  in  a  railway  carriage  in  the  colony,  not  in- 
deed so  strongly  as  Mallock  puts  it ;  for  my  young 
antagonist  had  not  seen  the  book.  I  first  showed  him 
the  objection  in  all  its  force.  "  Two  centuries  before 
Christ,  Buddha  is  said  to  have  been  born  without  a 
human  father.  Angels  sang  in  heaven  to  announce  his 
advent ;  an  aged  hermit  blessed  him  in  his  mother's  arms ; 
a  monarch  was  advised,  though  he  refused,  to  destroy  the 
child,  who,  it  was  predicted,  should  be  a  universal  ruler. 
It  is  told  how  he  was  once  lost,  and  was  found  again  in  a 
temple  ;  and  how  his  young  wisdom  astonished  all  the 
doctors,"  and  so  on  througb  the  remarkable  events  in  the 
early  life  of  our  Divine  Lord.  "  You  see,"  it  is  argued, 
"  the  Buddhist  religion  and  the  Christian  had  a  common 
origin,  neither  can  be  from  heaven."  How  all  this  appar- 
ently powerful  and  overwhelming  argument  melts  into 
thin  air,  as  we  read,  in  the  Lectures  of  the  Cardinal  (vol. 
ii.  26),  the  clear  proofs  established  by  Bentley,  that  this 
legend  in  the  life  of  Buddha  was  artfully  framed  by  the 
Brahmins  in  the  seventh  century,  and  inserted  fraudu- 
lently in  their  sacred  books.  What  seemed  to  be  a  serious 
difficulty  only  shows,  that  even  the  Brahmins  regarded 


BY  FREE-THINKERS.  181 

the  Christian  religion  as  something  far  superior  to  their 
own,  when  they  stooped  to  this  low  trick  to  give  their 
own  legends  greater  plausibility. 

So  far  then  is  the  Catholic  Church  from  regarding  true 
science  as  an  eneniy,  that,  on  the  contrary,  she  cultivates 
science,  and  fosters,  and  cherishes  it,  as  a  splendid  auxiliary. 

"Next  it  is  urged  that  she  is  obstinate  and  intolerant. 
Well,  a  very  short  answer  meets  this  difficulty.  Truth 
is  necessarily  intolerant  of  error.  It  could  not  be  Truth 
at  all  if  it  did  not  maintain  itself  against  every  approach 
of  error.  They  are  as  different  from  each  other  as  light 
is  from  darkness.  If  it  be  true  that  God  the  Son,  the 
second  Person  of  the  Elessed  Trinity,  became  man,  and 
that  our  Divine  Saviour  is  God,  it  is  necessarily  false, 
abominably  and  blasphemously  false,  that  He  was  only  a 
man.  If  He  saved  us  from  hell,  and  the  power  of  the  devil 
by  His  Atonement,  then  this  Atonement  cannot  be  the 
dreadful  thing  it  is  said  to  be  by  the  advanced  Kationahst. 
If  it  be  an  invention  of  Almighty  Love  to  unite  us  to  our 
Divine  Saviour  in  the  Blessed  Eucharist  and  the  Holy 
Communion,  it  must  be  a  hideous  and  revolting  insult  to 
this  Divine  Saviour,  to  treat  this  most  Holy  Sacrament 
with  irreverence.  If  it  be  true  that  the  sacraments  have 
been  instituted  by  Christ,  to  apply  to  our  souls  the  fruits 
of  His  abundant  redemption,  they  who  scoff  at  these 
sacraments,  are  evidently  exposing  themselves  to  the 
wrath  of  God  ;  for  "  God  is  not  mocked  "  with  impunity. 
If  there  is  a  personal  God,  then  Atheism  is  inconceivable 
madness.  If  man  has  an  immortal  soul,  it  is  worse  than 
absurd  to  say  that  he  is  only  organized  matter.  If  there 
be  another  life,  "  the  bag  of  bones"  theory,  and  the  life 
of  a  brute  and  the  death  of  a  brute  is  the  extreme  of 
f oUy.     If  there  be  a  Hell,  how  awful  is  the  daring  of 


182     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  MISUNDERSTOOD 

those  who,  on  its  very  brink,  defy  their  Maker  to  punish 
them  eternally !  Such  extremes  can  never  meet ;  there- 
fore truth  must  reprobate,  and  hate  and  abominate  error 
as  the  greatest  of  evils. 

But  the  Free-thinkers  go  on  to  say — yes,  but  the  old 
Catholic  Church  hates  not  only  error,  but  those  who  pro- 
fess error,  and  would  persecute  those  who  differ  from  her, 
if  she  dared,  and  actually  consigns  them  all  to  eternal 
flames.  I  say  distinctly — no.  The  Church  is  as  faithful 
to  her  principles  of  loving  mercy  and  pity  for  the  unfor- 
tunate, who  are  in  danger  of  being  lost,  as  she  is  faithful 
to  her  trust  in  preserving  the  dogmas  once  committed  to 
her  keeping  by  her  Divine  Founder.  It  is  not  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  as  a  society  of  men  framing  laws  according 
to  the  best  of  their  judgment,  it  is  the  Catholic  Church 
inspired  and  directed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  declares 
it  to  be  a  solemn  and  eternal  truth,  that  "  without  Faith  it 
is  impossible  to  please  God,"  and  that "  he  who  belie veth 
not,  shall  be  condemned."  So  God  Himself  has  \\dlled 
it.  This  is  His  law,  and  not  the  law  of  men.  It  is  her 
Divine  Founder  who  has  said,  "  The  wicked  shall  go  into 
everlasting  fire." 

The  Catholic  Church  firmly  believing  that  this  is  the 
terrible  sanction  of  the  Divine  law,  constantly  proclaims 
it.  If  she  did  not  proclaim  it,  she  would  be  infinitely 
more  guilty  than  the  wretch,  who,  seeing  a  fellow-crea- 
ture blindly  advancing  with  unguarded  steps  to  the  edge 
of  a  precipice,  and  having  it  in  his  power  to  warn  and 
save  him,  let  him  go  on  to  destruction.  Surely  such  a 
man  would  be  a  murderer,  as  certainly  as  if  he  deprived 
his  victi^m  of  life  by  an  act  of  positive  violence.  I  say 
that  the  Catholic  Church  would  be  infinitely  more  guilty 
than  this  murderer,  if  she  did  not,  "  in  season  and  out  of 


BY  FREE-THINKERS.  183 

season,"  repeat  her  warnings,  because  tlie  fate  of  those 
who  die  impenitent  is  fixed  for  all  eternity.  The  unfor- 
tunate being  who  falls  over  a  precipice  may  have  a  mo- 
mentary consciousness  of  his  fate,  and  so  yield  to  the  in- 
stinctive cry  of  suffering  humanity,  and  say,  if  not  with 
the  lips,  in  his  heart  at  least,  "  God  have  mercy  on  me,  and 
forgive  me !"  Who  will  judge  and  determine,  that  God, 
Who  has  implanted  that  instinct  in  every  human  being 
civilized  or  savage,  will  not  hearken  to  it  ?  Certainly  it 
is  not  the  teaching  of  Catholic  Christianity  that  one  who 
has  cried  aloud  for  mercy,  though  it  be  only  in  his  utmost 
need,  shall  not  receive  mercy.  She  does  not  judge  at  all 
of  individuals ;  but  she  declares,  with  all  the  force  of  her 
authority,  that  the  unbeliever  who  defies  God  to  the  last, 
and  perishes  with  the  proud  cry  of  the  demon  on  his 
lips — "  I  will  not  serve" — shall  share  the  fate  of  demons 
for  ever  and  ever. 

If  the  Free-thinker  will  press  his  objection,  and  take 
up  the  old  gossip  about  the  Inquisition,  and  "  the  fires  of 
Smithfield "  and  all  that,  I  could  only  smile  at  this  evi- 
dence of  ill-humor,  and  when  he  had  time  to  recover  his 
temper,  would  remind  him,  that  in  the  ages  of  Faith, 
when  men  valued  their  eternal  salvation  above  aU  earthly 
blessings,  they  were  wont  to  be  indignant  and  unsparing 
against  those  who  endeavored  to  stir  up  religious  quarrels, 
and  dissensions,  and  to  form  sects ;  because  they  believed 
with  the  Apostle,  that  they  who  do  such  things  would 
neither  themselves  "obtain  the  kingdom  of  God"  (Gal. 
V.  21),  nor  suffer  those  who  listened  to  their  corrupt  teach- 
ing, to  secure  this  blessing. 

I  would  tell  him  that  times  change,  and  the  fashions 
and  ways  of  people  with  them  ;  that  laws  are  not  now  so 
Draconian  in  their  spirit  as  even  half  a  century  ago,  when 


184      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   MISUNDERSTOOD 

the  theft  of  sixpence  worth  was  punished  with  death; 
that  we  cannot  judge  of  the  spirit  of  the  present  times 
by  what  we  read  of  the  past,  nor  the  fierce  intolerance  of 
other  times  bj  the  more  gentle  and  large-hearted  feelings 
of  to-day.  I  would  try  to  make  him  understand  that  there 
was  a  great  deal  to  be  said  about  the  cruel  persecutions  of 
those  Yery  people  who  charge  the  Catholic  Church  with 
intolerance ;  that  worldly  policy,  and  the  plans  of  Gov- 
ernments had  much  to  do  with  the  Inquisition  ;  and  that, 
as  to  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  and  the  other  ter- 
rible things,  which  have  been  so  often  cooked  and  re- 
hashed that  they  remind  one  of  the  twice-boiled  cabbage 
or  ''  thanatos^^  of  the  Greek  writer — they  are  things  of 
the  past,  about  which  men  might  dispute  their  whole  life 
long,  without  coming  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion.  They 
are  enough  to  sicken  to  death  any  one  with  the  least  pre- 
tensions to  scholarship,  who  has  attempted  to  wade  through 
the  broad  shallow  waters  of  conflicting  testimony,  and 
bitter  argument,  that  surrounds  questions  of  this  sort. 
Let  us  keep  to  the  present.  Free-thinkers  may  feel  quite 
assured  that  the  spirit  of  the  Catholic  Church  towards 
those  who  blaspheme  the  Saviour,  and  make  a  mockery 
of  His  sufferings,  is  all  expressed  in  that  Divine  prayer — 
"  Father  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do !" 
"  But  why  will  the  Catholic  clergy  talk  so  constantly 
about  the  supernatural  and  mysteries  ?  What  can  they 
know  about  such  things?  And  why  make  so  much  of 
miracles  and  apparitions,  in  which  no  sensible  man  can 
believe?  and  why  encourage  pilgrimages,  that  foster 
these  delusions  ?  Why  will  they  not  confine  themselves 
to  that  sum  and  substance  of  all  practical  religion — con- 
tained in  the  words  of  the  Apostle — '  Honor  all  men ; 
love  the  brotherhood;  fear  God:  honor  the  king'?   (1 


BY  FREE-THIITKERS.  185 

Pet.  11.  17.)  Why  endeavor  to  bring  forward,  into  the 
light  of  this  nineteenth  centurj,  such  old  wives'  stories 
of  the  dark  ages  about  the  Devil  and  Spiritism.  All  this 
is  enough,"  they  excitedly  remark,  "to  bring  her  teach- 
ing into  contempt,  and  to  make  her  hateful  to  men  of 
intelligence  and  education." 

I  have  already  explained  the  nature  of  mysteries ;  they 
are  the  natural  outcome  of  a  Keligion  which  professes  to 
give  us  the  message  of  the  Infinite  about  His  own 
nature,  and  His  relations  to  His  creatures.  If  there  were 
not  mysteries  in  such  a  Religion,  it  would  be  on  the  face 
of  it  a  clear  proof  that  this  Religion  was  earth-born,  and 
the  invention  of  men.  I  have  also  explained  that  mira- 
cles, or  extraordinary  interventions  of  Almighty  power, 
preventing  in  certain  cases  the  ordinary  effects  of  natural 
laws,  is  the  obvious  and  necessary  consequence  of  a  firm 
belief  in  the  Providence  of  a  supreme  being,  wlio  by 
His  goodness  is  bound  to  care  for  the  creatures  He  has 
called  into  existence. 

The  Catholic  Church  believes  in  a  good  God,  who  has 
taught  us  to  call  Him  "Father;"  and  in  whose  im- 
mensity "  we  live,  move,  and  have  our  being."  Catholics 
believe  in  a  God  who  has  made  us  free,  and  who  would 
not,  much  as  He  desires  the  salvation  of  all,  interfere  in 
any  way  with  the  exercise  of  their  liberty.  Therefore  it 
is  that  the  Church  is  never  weary  in  impressing  on  the 
minds  of  her  children  that  this  God,  as  His  Son  our 
Saviour  taught  us  in  express  words,  knows  us  by  name, 
has  counted  the  very  hairs  of  our  head,  and  loves  each  of 
us  infinitely  more  than  the  wild  flowers  of  the  field, 
which  He  has  clothed  with  so  much  beauty.  We  Catho- 
lics are  taught  to  believe  that  whatsoever  we  ask  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  will  be  given  us ;  and  that  if  we 


186      CATHOLIC   CHRTSTIAKITY   MISUNDERSTOOD 

have  Faitli  and  unbounded  confidence  in  Him,  the  pow- 
ers of  nature  shall  not  stand  in  the  way  of  the  accom- 
plishment of  our  wishes.  "Will  not  a  God,  who  has 
made  us  these  gracious  promises,  fulfil  them  ?  It  is  no 
trouble  to  Him.  He  knows  all  things  without  an  effort. 
He  is  present  everywhere,  all  created  things,  save  man, 
obey  His  will.  We  could  not  believe  in  God,  if  we  did 
not  also  believe  in  His  Providence,  and  in  the  working 
of  that  Providence  in  the  supernatural  way  of  miracles ; 
and  there  can  be  no  truth  of  this  belief  that  can  more 
practically  concern  us,  or  which  we  should  keep  more 
constantly  before  our  eyes. 

Pilgrimages,  and  processions  to  Holy  shrines,  are  only 
the  outward  expression  of  our  Faith,  a  most  admirable 
means  of  keeping  it  alive  within  us  by  mutual  edifica- 
tion, and  of  proclaiming  this  Faith  to  others,  who  do  not 
believe  this  consoling  doctrine  of  an  ever  watchful  and 
loving  Providence,  that  they,  seeing  these  things  and  the 
wonders  that  are  wrought,  may  glorify  God  who  is  so 
amiable  and  condescending  to  those  who  trust  in  His 
loving  care,  and  in  the  day  of  trouble,  call  upon  Him. 
I  have  spoken  with  those  who  have  been  present  at 
wonderful  cures,  instantaneously  wrought  in  favor  of  the 
sick  and  infirm.  They  assured  me  that,  never  before  did 
they  so  realize  to  themselves  what  this  Faith  in  the  un- 
seen Guardian  and  Sustainer  of  their  lives  actually  meant, 
as  when  the  touch  of  His  healing  power  was  in  a  mo- 
ment manifested  to  a  great  multitude,  and  they  heard 
them,  as  in  the  days  when  our  Saviour  wrought  His 
miracles,  cry  out,  as  if  with  one  voice,  "  Lo !  God  again 
hath  visited  His  people." 

Farther  on  in  this  book,  when  I  treat  of  the  phases  of 
modem  unbelief,  I  shall  have  something  to  say  of  this 


BY   FREE-THINKERS.  187 

accursed  Spiritism,  which  is  following  the  track  of  avowed 
and  open  infidelity,  and  feeding  the  delusions  of  those 
who,  rejecting  Revelation,  are  endeavoring,  by  unholy 
rites,  to  peep  into  the  secrets  of  the  future  life. 

There  is  another  objection  to  the  action  of  the  Church 
on  society,  which  more  fittingly  comes  in  here  :  "Why," 
say  her  enemies,  "  does  the  Church  interfere  in  the  affairs 
of  this  world  1  Can  she  not  confine  herself  to  her  spi- 
ritual functions  ?  And,  since,  she  will  obstinately  believe 
in  the  supernatural,  why  not  satisfy  her  longing  for 
preaching  and  teaching,  by  subjects  connected  with  this 
higher  sphere  ?  What  has  she  to  do  with  our  civil  laws, 
and  social  relations,  and  material  progress,  and  above  all 
why  will  she  attempt  to  circumscribe  our  national 
liberties  ?" 

Let  me  first  of  all  say  that  the  Catholic  Church  has 
ever  been  the  enthusiastic  defender  of  the  true  liberties 
of  oppressed  nationalities :  in  the  next  chapter,  I  mean 
to  show  why  the  Catholic  Church,  in  the  discharge  of  her 
important  mission,  "  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture," is  bound  to  watch  and  guard,  as  the  apple  of  her 
eye,  the  educational  interests,  and  the  domestic  and  family 
relations  of  all  classes  of  her  children.  It  is  only  miscon- 
ceptions of  the  great  principle  of  "  Divine  right,"  that  lie 
at  the  bottom  of  the  strong  prejudices  which  prevail 
amongst  Free-thinkers  against  what  they  love  to  call 
"  the  despotism"  of  the  Church.  Because  the  Pope  is  a 
sovereign  ruler,  it  is  inferred,  that  all  the  sympathies  of 
Catholics  must  be  in  favor  of  Monarchy.  The  Sovereign 
rules,  according  to  Catholic  theology,  by  right  Divine, 
therefore,  it  is  argued,  any  departure  from  this  form  of 
Government  must  be  regarded  as  direct  opposition  to  the 
Divine  wilL 


188      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   MISUNDEESTOOD 

!N^ever  was  there  a  greater  mistake.  The  governing 
power,  let  it  be  monarchical  or  republican,  let  the  ruler 
be  Emperor,  Empress,  King,  Queen  or  President,  is,  on 
Catholic  principles,  the  visible  representative  of  God,  for 
the  maintenance  of  that  order  which  is  essential  to  the 
existence  of  Society.  God  has  made  man  to  live  in  com- 
munity :  language  alone,  which  distinguishes  man  from 
all  other  creatures  in  this  world,  proves  this.  But  men 
cannot  live  together  in  any  form  of  community  without 
a  head  or  ruler.  In  its  most  elementary  state,  or  the 
family,  human  beings,  to  live  together  in  peace  and  unity, 
must  have  a  head,  the  father  of  the  family.  The  tribe 
must  have  its  cliief ;  the  nation  must  have  its  ruler. 
These  are  absolute  truisms.  No  one  with  a  grain  of 
common-sense  will  argue,  that  every  member  of  a  com- 
munity can  do  as  he  or  she  pleases  :  there  must  be  mutual 
concessions  of  individual  right,  else  the  family  even  will 
be  like  a  bear  garden.  In  the  maintenance  of  order  in 
the  family,  the  father  rules  without  question  or  doubt. 
But  when  the  family  swells  into  a  tribe,  and  the  tribe 
into  a  people  or  a  nation,  the  appointment  of  a  ruler,  and 
the  form  of  Government,  are  left  to  the  choice  of  those 
who  require  to  be  governed.  The  Catholic  Church  has 
never  interfered  with  this  choice,  unless  when  invited  to 
do  so  by  the  people  themselves,  and  in  the  interests  of 
order.  When  all  Christendom  looked  up  to  the  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  as  the  vicar  of  Christ,  the  real  master  and 
ruler  of  the  Christian  Commonwealth,  the  Holy  Father 
was  by  the  free  consent  of  nations,  the  supreme  arbiter 
of  disputes,  and  his  decision  was  received  as  the  law  of 
God.  But  in  whatever  way  the  ruler  was  elected,  whether 
he  was  an  hereditary  Sovereign,  or  one  chosen  by  the 
votes  of  the  majority,  once  in  the  position  of  authority, 


BY   FREE-THINKERS.  189 

he  ruled  as  the  representative  of  God  ;  and  his  authority 
was  binding  on  the  consciences  of  his  Christian  subjects. 
They  obeyed  him,  not  because  he  was  popular,  not  be- 
cause of  his  good  and  amiable  qualities,  not  through  fear, 
not  for  wrath,  "  but  for  conscience'  sake." 

This  is  what  is  meant  by  "  Divine  right"  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  ruler,  call  him  by 
whatever  name  you  will,  should  "  carry  the  sword,"  and 
indicate  order,  according  to  the  laws  of  his  people ;  not 
by  virtue  of  any  contract,  not  because  the  subjects  gave 
up  the  right  over  their  own  lives,  for  their  lives  do  not 
belong  to  them,  they  belong  to  their  Creator ;  but  because 
the  ruler  held  authority  and  right  from  God. 

An  effort  is  sometimes  made  to  prove,  that  the  present 
persecution  of  the  Church  in  France,  is  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  pastors  of  the  Church  in  that  country  are  op- 
posed to  the  Republican  form  of  Government.  There 
may  be  strong  feeling  on  this  point ;  but  the  principle  I 
have  stated  is  as  firm  as  the  rock  on  which  Christ  founded 
His  Church.  The  government  de  facto,  the  choice  of 
the  nation  rules  by  Divine  right ;  and  he  who  rebelliously 
resists  this  authority,  "  purchases  to  himseK  damnation." 
If  there  has  been  no  free  choice,  if  a  nation  is  robbed  of 
its  inherent  rights,  and  compelled  by  brute  force  to  sub- 
mit to  a  ruler,  there  is  question  then  only  of  patient  sub- 
mission, until  there  is  a  reasonable  prospect  of  rectify- 
ing the  cruel  wrong.  Catholic  theologians  have  laid 
down  principles  on  this  point,  which  should  find  favor 
with  every  one  who  values  true  liberty. 

There  is  nothing,  in  the  history  of  the  times  in  which 
we  live,  to  show,  that  the  Catholic  Church  favors  one 
particular  form  of  government  more  than  another.  One 
thing  is  quite  certain  that  Catholics  who  enjoy  the  freedom 


190      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  MISUNDERSTOOD. 

of  the  chfldren  of  God,  who  are  not  harassed  and  dis- 
turbed on  account  of  their  religious  principles,  feel  no- 
where more  at  home  than  under  a  republican  form  of 
government.  Never  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  have 
her  institutions  expanded  so  amazingly,  and  so  rapidly, 
as  in  the  United  States  of  America.  "  If,"  as  Father 
Miiller  puts  it,  "a  great  pope  could  say  in  truth  that  he 
was  nowhere  more  pope  than  in  America,"  every  Catho- 
lic can  and  does  also  say  with  certainty  "  Nowhere  can 
I  be  a  better  Catholic  than  in  the  United  States." 

The  questions  of  Education  and  Marriage  require  a 
chapter  to  themselves.  I  think  it  will  not  be  difficult  to 
show,  that  Catholic  Christianity,  in  contending  for  the 
rights  of  a  Christian  education,  and  the  indissolubility  of 
the  marriage-tie,  is  only  fulfilling  a  most  important  duty, 
and  in  no  way  hindering  the  real  progress  and  happiness 
of  the  human  race. 


EDUCATION  AND   MARRIAGE.  191 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Catholic   Christianity  in   Relation   to   Education 
and  Marriage. 

^  I  ^HE  Catholic  Church  has  always  maintained,  that  it 
-*-  is  an  essential  part  of  her  mission  from  above,  to 
watch  over  the  education  of  her  children.  This  duty  is 
necessarily  implied  in  the  words — "  Teach  all  nations." 
Teaching  does  not  mean  simply  to  instruct  in  science, 
and  literature,  and  languages,  and  all  that  knowledge 
which  is  useful  in  the  affairs  of  this  world ;  its  most  im- 
portant aim  should  be  to  fit  man  for  the  great  end  of  his 
being,  that  life  which  is  eternal.  Education  properly 
understood  should  direct  itself  mainly  to  the  formation  of 
character  on  sound  moral  principles ;  so  that  children 
may,  from  the  first  use  of  reason,  be  trained  to  fear  God, 
and  love  Him,  to  honor  and  obey  their  parents,  to  curb 
their  young  passions,  and  hate  sin,  and  thus  grow  up  to 
be  good  and  useful  members  of  the  community,  and  to 
be  made  fit  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  prospect  of  educating  in 
this  sense,  unless  Religion  is  cultivated  in  the  young 
mind,  as  well  as  other  plants  of  knowledge ;  and  there- 
fore the  Church  has  always  insisted,  that  in  her  schools, 
as  well  as  in  the  family,  the  young  shall  be  taught  to 
know  God,  and  be  faithful  to  His  law. 

This  principle  finds  no  favor  with  those  who  regard 
material  progress  as  the  chief  end  of  human  life.  The 
future  is,  according  to  the  views  of  Free-thought,  quite 


192    CATHOLIC  CHRISTIANITY   IN   RELATION  TO 

uncertain.  It  is  one  of  those  things  about  which,  Eation- 
alists  and  Agnostics  say,  we  can  know  nothing  positive, 
and  therefore,  they  argue,  man's  whole  attention  should 
be  devoted  to  what  is  real  and  tangible.  As  the  Church 
declares,  in  the  very  words  of  our  Divine  Lord,  that  sal- 
vation is  "the  one  thing  necessary,"  and  makes  this 
grand  principle  the  basis  of  all  her  teaching  as  regards  the 
weKare  of  her  children,  the  unbelieving  world  fiercely 
maintains  that  the  main  point  of  human  life  should  be  to 
make  the  best  of  onr  short  time  on  earth,  in  securing  for 
ourselves  whatever  we  can  of  the  good  things  of  this 
world.  "  The  present  only  is  ours,  let  us  enjoy  it  wisely 
while  we  may ;  the  future  must  take  care  of  itself." 

Of  course,  where  there  is  so  direct  a  conflict  about  the 
main  object  of  life,  the  deductions  from  these  opposing 
principles  must  manifest  themselves  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly ;  and  so  the  Church  and  the  world  are  at  open 
war  on  this  question  of  Education.  Hence  the  two  sys- 
tems, Education  grounded  on  religion,  or  denomina- 
tional, and  education,  or  rather  Instruction,  from  which 
all  religious  teaching  is  excluded,  commonly  called  sec- 
ular and  undenominational. 

I  would  briefly  consider  the  matter  as  regards  social 
progress.  Has  Free-thought  good  and  sound  reasons  for 
denouncing  the  Catholic  Church  as  the  foe  of  material 
progress,  and  the  happiness  of  peoples,  because  she  re- 
quires that  Religion  shall  necessarily  be  associated  with 
other  instruction  in  the  elementary  schools  ?  I  take  it 
for  granted,  that  the  most  advanced  leaders  of  unbehef 
wiU  not  think  of  carrying  the  question  into  the  bosom  of 
the  family.  They  will  most  assuredly  not  dream  of  in- 
terfering with  good  fathers  and  mothers,  who  do  their 
best  to  infuse  into  the  minds  of  their  little  ones  that  holy 


EDUCATION   AND  MARRIAGE.  193 

fear  of  God,  "  which  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,"  and 
who  endeavor  to  train  them  "  to  avoid  evil  and  do  good." 
Indeed  the  advocates  of  secular  education,  as  a  rule, 
rather  insist  on  the  necessity  of  this  domestic  religious 
teaching,  when  they  would  show  that  their  system  does 
not  necessarily  exclude  rehgion  altogether  from  the 
minds  of  youth.  The  care  of  parents,  supplemented  by 
Sunday-schools,  will,  they  would  have  us  believe,  supply 
the  want  of  religious  training  in  the  school-room.  I  may 
note  here  that  this  is  in  reality  a  complete  fallacy,  and 
well  known  as  such  by  all  who  have  practical  experience 
in  the  bringing  up  of  children.  Parents  are  bound  by 
the  Catholic  Church  to  teach  their  children  the  catechism, 
and  their  prayers,  and  religious  duties,  even  when  these 
children  receive  daily  instruction  in  good  Catholic  schools ; 
for  if  the  impressions  produced  in  school  are  not  fixed  in 
the  mind,  and  confirmed  by  home-training,  they  will 
scarcely  take  firm  hold  of  the  youthful  conscience.  But 
there  will  be  little  or  nothing  to  establish  there,  if  a  con- 
siderable time  is  not  allotted  in  the  school  to  daily  relig- 
ious instruction.  Amongst  the  poor,  who  have  to  work 
hard  from  morning  till  night,  even  the  best  disposed 
parents  can  do  little  more  than  hear  their  children  say 
their  morning  and  evening  prayers,  and  repeat  the  com- 
mandments, and  some  of  the  fundamental  truths  of  re- 
ligion. Many  are  not  competent  to  explain  the  catechism. 
When  we  see  how  this  duty  is  neglected  by  the  rich  who 
have  education  and  plenty  of  time  to  inculcate  religion, 
it  will  be  understood  at  once  that  religious  instruction 
confined  to  the  family,  or  to  the  hour  or  half -hour  in  the 
Sunday-school,  means,  no  religious  instruction  at  all.  At 
best,  the  few  moments  devoted  to  this  work  at  home  and 
the  hour  or  half -hour  once  a  week  in  the  Sunday-school, 


194    CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   IN   RELATION  TO 

serve  only  to  keep  alive  the  tender  flower,  planted  and 
watered  with  assiduous  care  by  pious  hands  in  the  hearts 
of  the  young. 

But  to  return  to  the  argument  which  would  exclude 
Keligion  from  the  schools,  I  will  first  of  all,  as  I  have 
done  all  through  in  treating  the  objections  of  unbelief, 
put  the  points  opposed  to  us  as  plainly  and  as  forcibly  as 
I  can. 

I  think  the  opponents  of  religious  education  must 
reason  somewhat  after  this  fashion.  "  Ignorance,  in  any 
large  section  of  the  population  of  a  state,  is  a  positive 
evil  of  the  most  formidable  character.  If  men  cannot 
read  and  write  and  know  how  to  use  their  brains,  they 
are  mere  drones  in  the  busy  hive,  they  can  feel  no  in- 
terest in  the  common  weal.  They  must,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  be  intensely  selfish  ;  they  must  be  for- 
ever wrapped  up  in  their  own  unprofitable  thoughts. 
They  can  do  very  little  to  benefit  themselves,  and  they 
cannot  help  others.  They  are  constantly  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  being  made  instruments  of  social  mischief,  and 
the  dupes  and  tools  of  designing  persons,  and  conse- 
quently they  become  a  source  of  trouble  and  expense  to 
the  society  that  harbors  them.  They  can  know  nothing 
of  sound  sanitary  laws  and  wise  regulations,  to  promote 
the  health  and  comfort  of  the  community  ;  and  so  they 
may,  at  any  moment,  become  plague-spots,  and  centres 
of  disease,  and  rot  in  filth  and  squalid  poverty,  a  misery 
to  themselves,  and  a  fruitful  source  of  danger  to  their 
fellows.  There  must  therefore  be  no  class  in  the  State 
that  shall  not  be  educated.  If  any,  through  laziness 
or  indifference,  or  blindness  to  the  advantages  of  know- 
ing how  to  read  and  write  and  cipher,  will  hang  back, 
and  keep  their  children  from  the  public  schools,  they 


EDUCATION  AND   MARRIAGE.  195 

must  be  compelled  to  send  them.  Now,  Religion 
stands  in  tlie  way  of  this  public  benefit.  If  a  school  is 
denominational,  or  endeavors  to  propagate  the  religious 
views  of  any  sect,  forthwith  there  is  an  outcry  against 
State  education.  Parents  will  justly  complain  that  they 
are  compelled,  by  fine  and  imprisonment,  to  send  their 
children  to  schools,  where  there  is  interference  with  the 
rights  of  conscience.  Hence  we  are  bound  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  common  good,  to  keep  clear  of  Religion 
altogether.  If  children  are  taught  in  our  public  schools 
only  to  read  and  write  and  some  of  the  branches  of 
ordinary  knowledge,  there  can  be  no  well-grounded 
complaints,  if  the  Government  insists  that  all  must  be 
compelled  to  partake  of  this  perfectly  harmless  benefit. 
This  is  the  only  way  in  which  the  difficulty  of  diffusing 
elementary  education  through  the  masses,  can  be  over- 
come. Parents  if  they  set  such  value  on  Religion,  must 
teach  it  at  home.  Children  can  learn  quite  enough  of  it 
in  the  Sunday  classes  of  the  particular  denomination  to 
which  they  belong.  But  we  cannot,  and  we  will  not  be 
thwarted  in  our  plans  for  the  general  benefit,  by  these 
religious  differences  and  unseemly  squabbles." 

This  is  about  what  it  comes  to  in  the  views  of  those 
who  contend  for  purely  secular  and  compulsory  educa- 
tion. And,  because  the  Catholic  Church  denounces  this 
system  as  unchristian  and  "  Godless,"  it  is  considered  as 
proved  beyond  the  possibility  of  contradiction,  that  she 
stands  in  the  way  of  real  progress. 

I  suppose  that  those  who  reason  in  this  way  would  go 
farther,  and  urge  that  some  education  is  better  than  none 
at  all,  and  since  the  State  has  a  right,  in  self-defence,  to 
protect  itself  against  the  evils  of  igDorance,  it  is  the  duty 
of  "  the  powers  that  be"  to  sweep  away  all  the  barriers 


196     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   IN   RELATION  TO 

that  stupidity,  or  fanaticism,  or  superstition,  can  raise  in 
the  way  of  wholesome  legislation. 

To  all  this  reasoning,  which  seems  very  specious  and 
satisfactory,  I  would  reply.  Let  us  examine  what  are  the 
actual  effects  of  this  "  godless"  system.  This  is  the  most 
satisfactory  of  all  tests.  Compulsory  education,  in  which 
religious  instruction  has  no  part,  has  been  tried  for  a  con- 
siderable time  in  many  countries ;  has  it  been  productive 
of  the  good  expected  from  it  ?  Suppose  we  examine  the 
working  of  the  system,  and  its  results,  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe,  and  in  the  "  common-schools"  of  America, 
where  it  has  been  in  operation  for  about  half  a  century, 
we  will  be  enabled,  in  the  simplest  and  easiest  and  most 
sure  way,  to  form  a  judgment  on  the  question. 

I  contend  that  these  results  present  abundant  reasons 
for  admiring  the  wisdom  of  the  Church,  and  condemning 
the  short-sighted  policy  which  would  have  us  regard 
secular  compulsory  education  as  a  panacea  for  all  the 
evils  of  society.  This  system,  judged  in  its  effects  for 
the  last  forty  or  fifty  years,  has  proved  worse  than  a 
failure — an  aggravation,  rather  than  a  remedy,  for  the 
evils  complained  of. 

In  Prussia,  where  the  system  was  first  enforced,  and 
rigidly  carried  out,  in  accordance  with  the  military  spirit 
that  directs  all  the  institutions  of  that  country,  the 
secular  plan  has  been  long  ago  abandoned.  At  first,  the 
statesmen,  who  directed  this  important  work,  believed 
that  secular  education  was  the  only  plan  by  which  they 
could  overcome  the  difficulties  caused  by  religious  dif- 
ferences, and  the  public  schools  were  in  the  beginning, 
purely  imdenominational.  But  it  was  soon  found,  although 
the  Religious  differences  are  less  in  Prussia  than  in  most 
other  countries,  from  the  fact  that  only  the  two  great 


EDUCATION   AND   MARRIAGE.  197 

principles  of  authority  and  free  inquiry  are  recognized, 
no  regard  being  paid  to  the  subdivisions  of  peculiar  sects — 
it  would  not  work.  There  for  a  time,  the  teachers  were 
chosen  in  equal  proportions  from  the  two  Eeligions,  Catho- 
lic and  Protestant — and  the  schools  were  called  "  simul- 
taneous." This  it  was  hoped  would  quiet  jealousies.  It 
did  so  in  fact,  but  it  was  found,  when  the  teachers  were 
prevented  from  giving  any  religious  instruction,  that  a 
fatal  indifference  to  all  religion  was  the  consequence. 
Freethinkers  would  no  doubt  hail  this  result  as  a  sign  of 
hopeful  progress,  indicating  the  advent  of  a  sort  of  re- 
ligious unity.  But  the  Prussian  Government  did  not 
think  so.  The  men  at  the  head  of  the  educational  de- 
partment clearly  saw  the  deplorable  effects  of  forgetful- 
ness  of  God,  and  the  claims  of  conscience.  This  state  of 
mind  soon  manifested  itself,  by  the  absence  of  all  respect 
for  authority,  and  the  wide  spread  of  revolutionary 
theories,  and  secret  societies,  and  ever-growing  scandalous 
immorality. 

As  early  as  1822,  the  minister.  Yon  Allenstein,  in  the 
Cabinet  rescript  for  that  year,  April  27th,  calling  atten- 
tion to  this  state  of  things,  gave  expression  to  his  views 
in  favor  of  a  return  to  denominational  education.  "  Ex- 
perience has  shown,"  he  says,  "that  in  these  secular 
schools,  the  chief  matter  of  education  is  not  sufficiently 
cared  for ;  and  it  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  case  that  it  can- 
not be.  The  intention  of  these  schools,  to  wit,  the  pro- 
motion of  tolerant  feelings  between  the  members  of  the 
two  communions,  is  seldom  or  never  attained."  Speak- 
ing at  a  later  period,  he  says — "  The  time  which  has 
elapsed  since  1848,  appears  to  have  wrought  a  general 
conviction  among  all  practical  men,  that  the  denomina- 
tional school  is  the  only  school  that  is  at  present  possible 


198    CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   IN   RELATION  TO 

in  Germany."  The  Government  in  consequence  changed 
its  system,  and  established  schools  where  Catholics  and 
Protestants  might  be  taught  under  the  direction  of  their 
own  pastors.  The  elementary  schools  in  Prussia  have 
been,  for  nearly  thirty  years,  purely  denominational.  If 
the  school  is  for  Catholics,  the  teachers  are  Catholic,  and 
the  books  Catholic :  if  the  school  is  Protestant,  the  books 
and  teachers  are  Protestant. 

I  believe  that  the  harmony,  and  good  feeling  shown  by 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  during  the  late  war  with  France, 
the  healthy  spirit  of  patriotism,  and  the  earnestness  of 
purpose  that  animated  all  ranks  of  the  Prussian  army, 
can  be  easily  traced  to  the  admirable  system  of  education 
adopted  by  the  government,  and  the  principles  of  social 
order,  respect  for  authority,  and  trust  in  God's  providence 
and  blessing,  produced  by  sound  religious  training. 

Any  one  can  mark  the  fatal  consequences  of  banishing 
Eeligion  from  the  schools  in  France,  in  the  misfortunes 
that  have  beset  this  misguided  country.  When  "  the 
citizen  king"  drove  out  the  pastors  and  Religious  from 
the  schools,  it  was  not  long  before  he  reaped  the  fruits 
of  this  destructive  policy.  "  In  the  broad  glare  of  the 
Revolutionary  history  of  1848,"  says  J.  C.  Colquhoun, 
"  in  that  chaos  of  confusion,  delirium,  and  dreams,  when 
socialists  raved,  and  the  infidel  mob  plundered,  the  lead- 
ers were  the  schoolmasters,  and  their  scholars  were  the 
masses."  To  what  other  cause  can  be  attributed  the 
miseries  of  the  days  of  the  Commune  ? 

When  I  read  the  admirable  work  of  Maxime  du  Camp — 
"  Les  Convulsions  de  Pa/ris^^^  I  could  easily  see,  that  it  was 
in  the  neutral  schools  that  were  trained  those  demons  in 
human  flesh,  who  excited  the  horror  and  detestation  of 
the  entire  civilized  world.     The  wretches,  from  whose 


EDUCATION  AND   ^CARRIAGE.  199 

minds  the  State  had  trampled  out  the  notion  of  God,  and 
right  and  wrong,  and  anything  like  morality,  became,  in 
the  brief  period  of  their  sovereign  power,  more  thoroughly 
brutish,  than  the  most  ferocious  savages,  that  have  ever 
contended  with  civilized  nations. 

In  reading  the  account  of  the  reign  of  the  Commune, 
one  cannot  help  thinking  of  "  the  dangerous  times"  pre- 
dicted by  the  Apostle,  as  signs  of  the  "  last  days"  of  the 
world, — "  men  shall  be  lovers  of  themselves,  covetous, 
haughty,  proud,  blasphemous,  disobedient  to  parents,  un- 
grateful, wicked,  without  affection,  without  peace,  slan- 
derers, incontinent,  unmerciful,  without  kindness,  trait- 
ors, stubborn,  puffed  up,  and  lovers  of  pleasures  more 
than  of  God  "  (2  Tim.  iii.  2,  3).  Every  downward  step, 
in  the  ladder  of  impiety  and  unmanly  wickedness  traced 
by  the  Apostle,  has  been  formed  in  these  neutral  schools, 
where  a  government,  that  once  was  Christian,  proclaims 
— "There  is  neutrality  as  to  the  existence  of  God,"  and 
where  the  State  forbids  "  even  the  mention  of  His  Holy 
Name." 

The  "common  schools"  were  to  have  done  wonders 
for  America.  Ignorance,  it  was  said,  is  the  Mother  of 
Yice,  and  when  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  knew 
how  to  read  and  write  and  cipher,  then  there  would 
commence  a  sort  of  Millennium  of  prosperity.  They  ban- 
ished God  and  religion  from  the  schools,  that  they  might 
make  education  compulsory ;  and  now,  after  about  fifty 
years'  experience  of  the  working  of  these  schools,  what 
is  the  moral  state  of  American  society?  I  will  give  a 
few  statements  of  what  American  writers  say  on  the  sub- 
ject. 

I  may  not  mention  in  this  book  the  thousandth  part 
of  what  I  have  read  on  this  painful  matter ;  nor  do  more 


200    CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   IN   RELATION  TO 

than  hint  at  the  fruits  of  Godless  education,  which  are 
poisoning  the  noble  energies  of  a  people,  who,  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  promised  to  be  the  leaders  in  the  march  of  real 
freedom,  and  the  true  progress  of  humanity.  One  is 
saddened  and  humiliated,  as  he  turns  over  the  pages  that 
record  a  material  prosperity  such  as  the  world  has  never 
seen,  side  by  side  with  a  decadence  in  morality  that  might 
rival  the  worst  days  of  expiring  paganism.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  about  half  the  population  of  the  United 
States,  or  thirty  millions,  have  set  up  the  idolatry  of 
wealth — and  the  pleasures  and  comforts  that  wait  on  this 
god  of  the  earth,  in  the  place  of  our  Divine  Eedeemer. 
Probably  more  than  this  number  profess  no  distinct 
Christian  belief,  and  have  broken  altogether  with  the 
venerable  traditions  of  Christianity.  How  far  this  affects 
sound  morality  is  apparent  to  any  student  of  history,  who 
pictures  to  himself  the  sad  days  before  our  Divine  Lord 
appeared  on  earth,  when,  "  men  professing  themselves  to 
be  wise,  they  became  fools"  (Kom.  i.  22),  "  and  God  gave 
them  up  to  the  desires  of  their  heart." 

Abundant  evidence  is  furnished  by  the  organs  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  that  such  are  the  sad  consequences  of  endeav- 
oring to  push  the  Almighty  out  of  His  own  world,  and 
to  keep  away  from  Him  the  little  ones,  with  whom  He 
loves  to  dwell.  "  Society  in  'New  England,"  says  the 
Cincinnati  Enquirer^  "  if  we  are  to  credit  the  data  of 
physicians,  is  but  a  mass  of  sores,  the  poison  of  which  is 
so  virulent  that — [here  some  grievous  crimes  are  detailed] 
' — are  scarcely  considered  crimes,  so  common,  so  every- 
day an  occurrence  have  they  become." 

The  I^ew  York  Exjpress  makes  the  following  notable 
statement — "  From  the  absence  of  all  religion  in  educa- 
tion what  follows  ?    Another  consequence  not  less  fatal. 


EDUCATION  AND   MARRlAaE.  201 

It  has  banished  religion  from  the  entire  life  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  American  people — there  are  about  three 
fourths  of  the  whole  population  who  belong  to  no  church, 
profess  no  religion,  are  in  no  way  occupied  with  the  des- 
tination of  the  soul,  living  as  if  it  were  certain  that  man 
had  nothing  to  expect  beyond  time,  more  than  the 
brute."  "  This  absence  of  moral  restraint,"  says  the 
New  York  Express  of  the  6th  February,  1869,  "  has  pro- 
duced the  same  effect  on  morality,  as  the  same  cause  pro- 
duced, one  thousand  eight  hundred  years  ago,  in  the 
decrepit  Eome  of  the  Caesars.  In  the  older  States  of 
Jd^aine,  and  Massachusetts,  the  number  of  children  is  in- 
comparably less  than  it  was ;  the  proportion  is  so  enor- 
mous, that  we  dare  not  publish  it." 

In  the  Wew  Yorh  Times  of  the  same  date,  we  read — 
"  We  Americans  by  birth  are  decreasing  rapidly.  For 
the  last  ten  years,  the  number  of  marriages  has  decreased 
in  an  appalling  manner."  "Statistics,"  says  Father 
Michael  Miiller,  a  Redemptorist,  "  have  been  frequently 
published  to  show,  that,  in  cei-tain  States  of  the  Union, 
and  in  certain  districts  of  those  States,  the  births  did  not, 
and  do  not,  equal  the  deaths ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  for- 
eign population  among  us,  many  of  those  districts,  and 
not  a  few  of  those  States  would  be  depopulated  in  a  few 
years.  Massachusetts  and  E'ew  York  lead  the  van  in  this 
criminal  record."  The  same  author  quotes  the  statements 
of  several  Doctors,  eminent  in  their  profession,  giving 
their  names  and  addresses  in  full,  and  the  statements  are 
most  alarming  to  all  who  feel  an  interest  in  the  growth 
and  prosperity  of  the  great  Eepublic.  An  idea  of  the 
nature  of  what  these  men  say  may  be  formed  from  one 
passage — "  In  some  of  our  large  cities,  a  lady  who  is  the 
mother  of  more  than  two  children  is  looked  upon  as  un- 


202    CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  IN    RELATION  TO 

fashionable :"  or  from  the  following  extract  of  a  letter 
addressed  by  Dr.  M.  B.  Wright  in  1860,  to  the  Medical 
Society  of  Ohio,  "  The  time  is  not  far  distant  when  chil- 
dren will  be  sacrificed  among  us  with  as  little  hesitation 
as  among  the  Hindoos,  unless  we  stop  it  here  and  now." 
That  the  horrible  immorality,  to  which  these  statements 
point,  is  intimately  connected  with  the  absence  of  moral 
and  religious  training  in  the  "common  schools"  is 
abundantly  proved,  by  the  revelations  made  from  time 
to  time  in  the  pubHc  newspapers  of  the  conduct  of  the 
pupils. 

Some  years  ago,  the  Boston  Times  published  full 
details  of  the  development  of  shocking  depravity  in  one 
of  the  public  schools  of  that  cityt  It  is  not  so  long  ago, 
that  the  leading  papers  in  New  York  were  obliged  to 
denounce  revolting  scandals  connected  with  these  estab- 
lishments. I  forbear  to  transcribe  statements  that  lie 
before  me,  from  the  chief  newspapers  in  Chicago,  and 
which  were  corroborated  by  the  Daily  Sentinel  of 
Indianapolis,  the  editor  declaring  that  what  was  said  of 
the  "common  schools"  in  the  Chicago  newspapers,  was 
true  of  the  schools  in  this  city  also.  When  I  read  in  this 
book  of  Father  Miiller,  that  the  moral  character  of  the 
Public  schools  in  many  of  the  cities  of  America  had  sunk 
so  low,  that  even  the  public  courtesans  disguised  them- 
selves in  the  uniform  of  these  establishments,  in  order 
the  more  surely  to  ply  their  foul  avocation,  I  felt  that 
this  was  saying  all  that  could  be  said  with  prudence,  to 
show  the  fatal  tendency  of  education,  when  completely 
severed  from  Keligion  and  God,  to  ruin  the  morahty  of 
the  rising  generation. 

Any  one  of  common  intelligence  can  see  at  once  that, 
when  it  requires  constant  care  and  watchfulness  to  main- 


EDUCATION   AND   MARRIAGE.  203 

tain  purity  and  innocence  amongst  children  who  are  care- 
fully taught  to  fear  God,  and  say  their  prayers,  and  go 
regularly  to  the  Sacraments,  it  must  be  next  to  an  impossi- 
bility to  preserve  morality,  where  every  salutary  restraint 
on  the  conscience  is  ignored  or  ridiculed.  Happily  there 
are  natures  that  spurn  the  filth  of  gross  criminality — the 
children  of  good  mothers  who  shrink  instinctively  from 
anything  that  offends  moral  purity ;  but  let  even  these  be 
exposed,  for  hours  every  day  to  the  heavy  atmosphere  of 
feverish  sin,  and  sooner  or  later  they  will  be  affected  by 
the  contagion.  I  think  I  have  said  enough  to  show  that 
schools  without  Eeligion,  and  where  the  name  of  God  is 
never  mentioned,  or  as  they  are  very  properly  called 
"  Godless  schools,"  are  not  hot-beds  of  morality. 

I  have  not  entered  into  the  theory  of  the  question  ;  it 
is  too  large  to  be  touched  upon  in  a  book  like  this,  meant 
only  for  the  passing  reader.  The  proof  of  my  position, 
that  I  have  briefly  set  forward,  is  the  plainest  and  most 
convincing — "  By  their  fruits  you  shall  know  them." 

The  Church  is  not  opposed  to  the  spread  of  education, 
but  this  means  sound  education,  in  which  the  moral  char- 
acter is  developed  by  Religious  teaching.  Any  other 
education  tends  only  "  to  bring  out"  the  evil  propensities 
of  youth,  and  is,  as  regards  the  progress  and  well-being 
of  society,  worse  than  useless.  Mere  instruction  in  the 
rudiments  of  education  will  not  check  the  growth  and 
spread  of  the  vices,  which  are  the  desolation  of  healthy 
society. 

Mr.  Clifford,  several  years  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
where  the  "common  schools"  have  been  more  pushed 
forward  than  in  any  other  State  of  the  Union,  very 
wisely  remarks,  "Without  the  sanctifying  element  of 
Religion,  I  am  by  no  means  certain  that  the  mere  cuM- 


204    CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   IN   RELATION  TO 

vation  of  the  intellect  does  not  increase  the  exposure  to 
crime,  by  enlarging  the  sphere  of  man's  capacity  to  min- 
ister through  its  agency,  to  his  sensual  and  corrupt  desires. 
I  can  safely  say,  as  a  general  inference  drawn  from  my 
somewhat  extensive  observation  of  crime  and  crimi- 
nals, that  as  flagrant  cases,  and  as  depraved  characters 
have  been  exhibited  among  a  class  of  persons  who  have 
enjoyed  the  ordinary  elementary  instruction,  in  our  New 
England  schools,  and  in  some  instances  in  the  higher  in- 
stitutions of  learning,  as  could  be  found  by  the  most  dili- 
gent investigation  among  the  convicts  of  Norfolk  Island, 
or  at  Botany  Bay."  "  You  may  alter  the  nature  of  crime," 
says  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  in  the  debate  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  March,  1869,  "  you  may  change  the  paths  by 
which  the  criminal  will  proceed,  but  crime  is  a  conse- 
quence of  moral  depravity,  and  the  mode  in  which  it 
will  be  committed  will  be  a  matter  of  calculation  with 
the  criminal,  no  matter  what  amount  of  education  may 
be  given  him  in  our  national  schools." 

The  fact  is,  as  all  thoughtful  men  will  admit,  to  edu- 
cate without  attempting  to  form  the  moral  character 
by  the  aid  of  Keligion,  is  only  to  put  polished  weapons 
into  the  hands  of  those  who,  from  evil  inclination,  or 
wicked  associations,  are  the  worst  enemies  of  social  or- 
der. 

Some  people  run  away  with  the  idea  that  free  schools 
for  the  poor  are  one  of  the  fruits  of  modern  civilization. 
But  the  Catholic  Church,  long  ago,  was  the  first  to  estab- 
lish schools  for  the  free  education  of  the  people.  "  As 
early  as  a.d.  529,"  says  Father  Miiller,  "we  find  the 
Council  of  Yaison  recommending  the  establishment  of 
public  schools.  A  Council  at  Kome  in  836,  ordained, 
that  there  should  be  three  kinds  of  schools  throughout 


EDUCATION  AND    MARRIAGE.  205 

Christendom  :  episcopal,  parochial  in  towns  and  villages, 
and  others,  wherever  there  could  be  found  place  and  op- 
portunity. The  Council  of  Lateran,  in  1179,  ordained 
the  establishment  of  a  grammar  school  in  every  Cathe- 
dral, for  the  gratuitous  instruction  of  the  poor.  In  the 
present  day,  in  every  street  in  Rome,  there  are,  at  short 
distances,  public  primary  schools  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  Rome,  with  a 
population  of  about  158,000  souls,  has  372  public  primary 
schools,  with  482  teachers,  and  over  14,000  children  at- 
tending them  ;  whilst  Berlin,  generally  believed  to  be  far 
in  advance  of  all  other  cities  in  the  work  of  primary 
education,  and  with  a  population  double  that  of  Rome, 
has  only  264  such  schools." 

I  argue  then,  from  the  fruits  of  "  Godless  education,'^ 
that  the  system  is  opposed  to  real  progress.  Let  every 
member  of  the  community  be  taught  to  read,  and  write, 
and  cipher,  by  all  means  I  say ;  but  at  the  same  time,  let 
the  chief  element  of  sound  education  be  carefully  at- 
tended to.  If  the  governments  of  civilized  nations  will 
only  help  the  Catholic  Church  in  a  liberal  spirit,  there 
will  be  no  need  of  compulsory  laws  to  push  forward  gen- 
eral education.  As  a  rule.  Parents  will  discharge  their 
obligations,  and  the  Church  is  never  weary  in  teaching 
the  importance  of  this  primary  obligation.  But  if  the 
Church  is  fettered,  in  her  efforts  to  provide  a  sound  reli- 
gious education  for  her  children  ;  if  Catholics  are  unjustly 
compelled  to  support  schools  where  no  religion  is  taught, 
and  deprived  of  state  aid  towards  the  support  of  their 
own  schools ;  if  this  burden  is  flung  upon  the  poor,  and 
consequently  there  are  not  schools  enough  for  their  ac- 
commodation, it  is  a  cruel  wrong  to  attribute  this  want 
to  a  spirit  of  opposition  to  real  progress,  and  to  charge 


206    CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  IN  RELATION  TO 

the  Catholic  Church  with  an  obstinate  and  unreasonable 
determination  of  raising  obstacles  to  the  action  of  en- 
lightened legislation. 

The  Church  seeing  clearly  the  evil  of  "  Godless  educa- 
tion," is  bound  to  use  all  her  influence  to  oppose  this 
evil.  'No  one  will  contend  that,  if  the  State  chose  to 
force  one  Eeligion  on  its  subjects,  they  would  be  bound 
to-  obey  so  tyrannical  and  despotic  an  order.  But  no 
Religion  is  worse  by  far  than  the  religion  of  a  particular 
sect  o£  Christians ;  and  therefore,  in  opposing  secular  and 
godless  schools,  the  Catholic  Church  is  only  struggling 
for  that  religious  freedom,  which  should  be  the  glory 
and  the  pride  of  all  good  governments  to  maintain. 
Hence  I  conclude  that  the  prejudice  against  the  Church, 
arising  from  the  fact  of  her  opposition  to  undenomi- 
national education,  is  utterly  groundless ;  and  that,  far 
from  hating  her  for  her  sturdy  determination  to  resist,  in 
every  shape  and  form,  what  she  considers  as  one  of  the 
most  blighting  curses  of  modern  civilization,  honest  men 
of  every  shade  of  behef  should  honor  her,  as  the  faithful 
guardian  of  the  rights  of  civil  liberty. 

As  regards  the  question  of  the  indissolubiHty  of  the  mar- 
riage tie,  and  the  steady  determined  action  of  the  Church 
against  civil  marriages,  and  divorce,  I  need  not  say  much. 
Any  one  who  observes  the  tendencies  of  the  present  age 
to  facilitate  in  every  way  the  separation  of  husband  and 
wife,  for  the  most  frivolous  causes,  and  the  effect  of  these 
separations  on  the  family,  and  the  individuals  who  sue 
for  divorce,  and  on  the  general  tone  of  morality,  where 
these  things  are  fashionable,  far  from  condemning,  must 
admire  the  action  of  the  Catholic  Church.  To  oppose 
the  violation  of  the  bond  of  marriage  is  to  struggle  for 
real  and  enlightened  progress,  and  to  stand  in  the  way  of 


EDUCATION   AND   MARRIAGE.  207 

the  rapid  descent  of  Christian  society  towards  the  depths 
of  Pagan  degradation. 

"It  is,"  says  Father  Miiller,  "the  holy  sacrament  of 
Marriage  that  gives  sanctity  to  the  family,  and  strength 
to  civil  society.  It  is  the  Catholic  Church  alone  that  has 
always  regarded  the  Christian  marriage  as  the  comer- 
stone  of  society;  and  at  that  corner-stone,  the  Popes 
stood  guard  for  eighteen  centuries,  by  insisting  that 
Christian  marriage  is  one,  holy,  and  indissoluble." 

"If  the  Popes,"  says  the  Protestant  Yon  Miiller, 
"could  hold  up  no  other  merit  than  that  which  they 
gained  by  protecting  monogamy  against  the  brutal  lusts 
of  those  in  power,  notwithstanding  bribes,  threats,  and 
persecutions,  that  alone  would  render  them  immortal  for 
aU  future  ages." 

It  would  be  going  beyond  the  boundary  I  have  marked 
out  for  myself,  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  indissolu- 
bility of  marriage ;  or  to  point  out  the  noble  action  of 
the  Church  in  past  ages,  in  defence  of  the  sanctity  of  this 
"  great  sacrament."  I  will  merely  say.  Watch  the  effects 
of  a  wider  departure  from  the  principle  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  in  these  days  of  the  latter  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  and  judge  if  they  are  reassuring.  Is  it 
not  a  fact  that,  since  the  newspapers  began  to  teem  with 
public  scandals  connected  with  the  new  Divorce  Courts, 
thoughtful  men  shudder  at  the  signs  of  the  times,  and 
earnestly  pray  that  the  ever-swelling  tide  of  evil,  which 
threatens  the  purity  of  the  family,  and  the  stability  of 
the  state,  may  in  some  way  or  other  be  checked  or 
averted?  At  any  rate,  it  seems  to  me,  that  it  is  only 
when  men  look  in  the  direction  of  communism  and  social- 
ism and  free-love,  as  the  goal  of  progress,  that  they  can  de- 
rive satisfaction  from  the  heavings,  and  throbbings,  and 


208  EDUCATION  AND   MARRIAGE. 

f everisli  restlessness,  which,  at  the  present  time,  charac- 
terize the  movements  of  the  masses  of  humanity.  I  have 
said  enough  to  show  that  the  Old  Church  is  true  to  her 
principles  of  social  order ;  and  that  Catholic  Christianity 
in  opposing  "  Godless  Education,"  and  Divorce,  is  in  no 
way  the  enemy  of  real  progress. 


AS    OPPOSED   TO   EMOTIONAL   CHRISTIANITY.   209 


CHAPTEK  X. 

Catholic  Christianity  as   Opposed   to  Emotional 
Christianity. 

A  LTHOUGH  I  have  given  all  the  attention  possible 
-^^^  to  express  mj  convictions  on  the  present  state  of 
the  controversy  between  Catholic  Christianity  and  the 
fashionable  infidel  theories  of  the  day,  I  feel,  on  looking 
back  on  what  I  have  written,  certain  misgivings,  which 
affect  not  only  the  hurried  style  of  the  composition,  but 
even  the  matter  itself,  as  it  may  be  judged  by  others.  I 
have  tried  to  set  the  objections  of  unbelief  not  only 
fairly,  but  even  strongly  before  the  public ;  and  sensible 
men  who  may  look  over  what  I  have  written  may  say — 
"  Is  it  prudent  to  enlighten  the  public  generally  on  such 
points  ;  may  it  not  disturb  simple  Faith  ?" 

Well,  I  can  only  say,  as  the  result  of  my  experience  in 
this  colony,  and  I  suppose  the  views  of  colonists  on  such 
subjects  are  the  same  over  the  world,  that  there  is  not  the 
least  danger  in  thoroughly  ventilating  thoughts  and  no- 
tions that  have  found  their  v/ay  early  into  the  minds  of 
precocious  youth,  and  that  have  been  seething  and  fester- 
ing there  throughout  their  lifetime.  It  is  an  undeniable 
fact  that  want  of  reverence  for  the  traditions  of  the  past 
is  a  marked  feature  in  all  new  countries.  A  colonial 
child  will  laugh  at  stories  of  legendary  lore  that  edify  the 
developed  minds  of  people  who  have  lived  in  an  atmos- . 
phere  of  the  Faith.  Colonists,  as  a  rule,  are  sharp  in 
picking  up  fragments  of  heterogeneous  knowledge,  and 


210  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

whether  it  concerns  holy  things  or  the  opposite,  morality 
or  scandal,  which  minds  regulated  by  the  staid  and  sober 
habits  of  quiet  home  dare  not  mention,  they  are  full  of 
eagerness  to  know  all  about  them. 

I  heard  an  old  lady,  the  other  day,  tell  the  advice  she 
received  from  her  grandfather,  when  she  was  a  child  in 
England.  "  My  Dear,  whenever  you  chance  to  pick  up  a 
bit  of  scandal  in  the  streets,  drop  it  in  the  sewer,  for  it  is 
a  filthy  thing,  and  not  fit  to  enter  into  a  decent  house." 
Such  morality  would,  I  fear,  be  somewhat  beyond  the 
mark  of  a  young  colonist  of  either  sex.  They  might 
marvel  at  such  prim  and  high-stilted  and  old-fashioned 
conceits;  but  inwardly  conclude  that  these  old  people 
knew  very  little  of  the  ways  of  the  present  world.  "  To 
know  something  about  everything,  and  to  pick  up  every 
fragment  of  knowledge  that  comes  in  your  way" — seems 
to  be  the  maxim  of  those  who  from  early  life,  have  to 
think,  and  take  care  of  themselves. 

Young  people  here  and  in  America,  and  the  new  con- 
tinent in  the  far  East,  and  wherever  the  old  civilization 
of  Catholic  Europe  is  grafted  on  a  new  stem,  speak  with 
a  confidence  and  an  assurance  about  all  the  "  ologies"  that 
would  fill  their  ancestors  with  amazement,  not  unmixed 
with  grave  anxieties.  Though  their  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  secret  things  of  nature  would  be  startling  to 
European  civilization,  their  dogmatism  on  Religious  sub- 
jects goes  far  beyond  the  widest  experience  of  the 
"  Household  of  the  Faith  "  in  older  countries.  The  total 
disregard  of  traditional  landmarks,  and  the  almost  com- 
plete ignorance  of  sound  principles  of  Theology,  launches 
them  out  fearlessly  on  the  wide  sea  of  religious  specula- 
tion ;  and  urges  them  to  seize  with  avidity  every  morsel 
and  scrap  of  floating  opinion  tliat  may  present  itself  to 


EMOTIONAL  CHRISTIANITY.  211 

their  notice,  in  the  shape  of  paragraphs  of  ever  j  new  pub- 
lication,, that  comes  within  their  reach.  Novelty  has  a 
special  charm  for  them ;  and  the  last  outcome  of  Free- 
thought,  which  would  sink  and  perish  imheeded  under 
the  surging  ideas  of  new  theories  at  home,  is  rare  food 
for  the  bold  explorers  of  Greater  Britain  beyond  the 
ocean. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  only  safe  way  to  satisfy  this 
passionate  desire  for  daring  discovery  is  to  meet  it  bravely 
and  openly ;  and  this  plan  I  have  endeavored  to  pursue 
throughout  my  book.  I  have  invariably  put  the  objec- 
tions of  unbelief  as  strongly  as  I  could,  more  forcibly 
perhaps  than  they  would  present  themselves  to  persons 
almost  totally  ignorant  of  the  important  consequences 
involved. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  say  to  a  precocious  and  inquisitive 
child, — "  I  cannot  now  explain  to  you  fully  what  your 
question  means  ;  by  and  by,  when  you  have  studied  and 
learned  more,  I  will  tell  you  all."  Prudence  of  this  kind 
is  apt  to  be  mistaken  for  ignorance,  or  stupid  fear.  Im- 
petuous youth  will  not  be  checked  in  its  investigations 
by  answers  of  this  kind ;  and  the  colonial  youth,  who  is 
all  on  fire  with  the  ardor  of  hungry  and  unsatisfied  long- 
ings after  the  mysterious,  will  plunge  recklessly  into 
depths  from  which  he  may  never  afterwards  arise. 

I  remember  once  hearing  of  a  smart  young  fellow,  in 
this  part  of  the  world,  who  having  his  curiosity  excited 
by  something  he  had  heard  of  the  Transit  of  Yenus, 
pressed  his  father  with  question  after  question,  till  the 
old  man  was  feign  to  escape  the  importunity  of  the  eager 
inquirer,  by  telling  him,  that  in  the  course  of  time,  his 
difficulties  would  be  satisfied.  The  youngster  was  equal 
to  the  occasion,  and  in  true  new-world  bluntness,  repHed, 


212     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  AS   OPPOSED  TO 

"  K  you  know  nothing  about  it,  buy  a  fellow  some  books 
that  will  explain  it." 

If  what  I  have  said  in  justification  of  stating  openly 
the  objections  of  Infidel  writers,  and  the  peculiarities  of 
the  countries,  where  my  experience  has  been  gleaned,  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  be  not  fully  understood 
in  the  land  of  my  birth,  I  am  convinced  by  the  experi- 
ence of  old  friends  in  that  dear  old  land,  remarkable  for 
their  prudence  and  foresight  and  the  profitable  use  of 
this  experience,  that  the  time  is  fast  drawing  nigh,  when 
the  open  attacks  upon  revealed  religion  must  be  met  even 
there  in  the  same  spirit  of  open  and  unreserved  satisfac- 
tion. 

There  is  another  objection  which  far  more  strongly 
suggests  itself  to  me.  Having  put  the  arguments  of  un- 
belief plainly  and  forcibly,  have  I  answered  them  with 
that  fulness,  and  that  amount  of  learning  which  the  sub- 
ject demands  ?  I  will  at  once  confess  that,  though  I  pre- 
pared myself  by  careful  study,  and  extensive  reading,  to 
meet  these  difficulties  at  every  point,  I  have  felt  most 
keenly  the  want  of  that  acuteness  and  dialectical  skill 
which  the  mind  acquires  by  constant  practice  and  polish 
in  the  schools,  and  which  is  altogether  beyond  the  reach 
of  a  missionary  Bishop.  The  answers  were  clear  enough 
to  my  mind,  even  from  the  recollection  of  the  treatises 
which  I  studied  in  college,  more  than  thirty  years  ago  ; 
but  to  put  them  with  the  precision  and  power  of  a  master 
in  theology  was  sometliing  I  could  not  attempt. 

It  seemed  to  me  therefore,  that  my  best  efforts  should 
be  directed  to  give  the  answers  in  a  plain  and  popular 
form ;  and  this  I  have  tried  to  do  to  the  extent  of  my 
ability.  ]S"o  doubt  I  have  done  it  often  clumsily,  and 
repeated  in  one  form  or  another  the  same  answer.     But  I 


EMOTIONAL   CHRISTIANITY.  213 

satisfied  my  misgivings  on  this  point,  by  the  consider- 
ation that  my  book  was  meant  for  readers,  who,  under 
tlie  influence  of  the  spirit  of  the  age,  would  merely 
glance  over  its  pages;  and  that  if  what  I  said  in  one 
chapter  failed  to  arrest  attention,  the  same  explanation 
of  the  difficulty,  in  another  form,  might  be  successful. 

Hence  I  eschewed  anything  like  the  assumption  of 
profound  theological  learning ;  and  put  my  trust  in  my 
own  honesty  of  purpose,  and  the  good-will  of  my  read- 
ers, and  most  of  all,  in  the  blessing  and  grace  of  God, 
which  can  give  a  sort  of  sacramental  efficacy  to  the 
simplest  materials,  which  are  devoted  to  j)romote  His 
honor  and  glory.  The  most  striking  conversions  that 
I  have  met  with  in  the  course  of  my  experience,  have 
been  due,  under  God,  not  to  what  the  world  would  call 
wisdom,  but  to  the  simpKcity  of  an  earnest  desire  "  to 
hear  the  word  of  God  and  keep  it."  I  have  known 
cases  in  which,  not  a  learned  discourse  and  cogent  argu- 
ment, but  some  of  the  most  ordinary  devotions,  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church,  the  incense  offered  at  the 
Altar,  the  Rosary,  and  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  name 
of  Jesus,  were  the  key  that  unlocked  hearts  long  closed 
to  the  impulse  of  Divine  grace.  I  must  only  hope  and 
pray  that  a  similar  blessing  will  be  conferred  on  many 
who  read  this  book,  with  the  intention  of  acquiring,  by 
its  means,  some  useful  knowledge  about  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once,  by  those  who  turn  over  its 
pages,  that  I  have  studiously  avoided  the  old  paths  of 
polemical  disputation,  so  long  used  in  the  contest  with 
religious  sects.  All  that  can  be  said  to  guide  readers 
through  these  devious  and  ever  divergent  ways,  has  been 
said  over  and  over  again ;  no  doubt  with  a  certain  amount 


214     CATHOLIC  CHRISTIANITY  AS  OPPOSED  TO 

of  satisfaction  to  the  sapient  writers,  but  only  to  weary 
and  distract  those  who  studied  their  writings,  in  the  hope 
of  meeting  with  explanations  that  would  clear  away  their 
doubts.  He  who  would  imagine  to  find  "the  narrow 
way  that  leads  to  life,"  by  comparing  disputation  with 
disputation,  and  attempting  to  reconcile  facts  of  history 
with  their  distortions,  and  truth  with  its  infinite  mis- 
representations, would  end  his  weary  life,  as  it  was  be- 
gun, in  utter  bewilderment ;  and  be  tempted,  often  in  its 
course,  to  give  up  the  task  in  despair,  and  fling  himseK 
hopelessly  into  the  rapidly  flowing  current  of  total  in- 
difference. 

There  is  another  difficulty,  and  as  it  is  of  considerable 
importance,  and  naturally  arises  from  what  I  have  said 
in  preceding  chapters,  I  will  dwell  upon  it  more  at 
length.  It  may  be  said,  "  You  have  labored  hard  to  draw 
a  charming  picture  of  Catholic  Christianity  as  a  whole  ; 
you  have  shown  how  all  the  mysteries  of  this  Eeligion, 
and  its  sacramental  system,  and  its  worship,  emanate 
from,  and  circle  round  the  Incarnation.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  a  Religion,  so  united  in  all  its  parts,  bearing 
its  supernatural  fruits  to  every  soul  that  desires  them, 
making  us  one  with  our  Divine  Redeemer,  and  sharers 
individually  in  His  plentiful  Redemption,  is  in  itself 
transcendentally  beautiful ;  and,  if  it  could  be  received 
with  entire  faith  and  confidently  relied  on,  quite  calculated 
to  satisfy  the  longings  of  every  heart  that  desires  life 
everlasting.  But,  at  the  same  time,  you  have  warned  us 
repeatedly  against  a  religion  of  feeling,  that  gratifies  our 
emotional  and  sentimental  tendencies.  If  we  accept  your 
warning,  everything  you  have  urged,  and  it  may  be 
exaggerated  in  its  favor,  should  naturally  make  us  dis- 
trustful.   May  we  not,  if  we  yield  to  its  attractions,  be 


EMOTIONAL  CHRISTIANITY.  215 

caught  by  some  potent  spell,  that,  by  its  fascinations, 
will  effectually  blind  us  to  the  simple  and  unaffected 
charms  of  pure  unalloyed  truth  ? 

"  In  other  forms  of  Christianity,  we  can  discover  beau- 
ties that  fill  the  soul  with  satisfaction,  and  give  us  peace, 
and  an  assurance  of  salvation,  and  promise  to  make  us  feel 
even  sensibly  the  abiding  presence  within  us  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God.  In  these  we  find  no  elaborate  ritual ;  we 
are  taught  indeed  to  unite  in  prayer,  and  to  help  each 
other  by  mutual  fervor :  but  the  prayers  are  in  a  language 
we  understand,  and  there  is  no  formality  about  them. 
The  minister  who  conducts  a  form  of  worship  of  this 
kind  yields  to  the  impulsive  gushings  of  his  own  heart, 
and  we  sweetly  communing  with  him,  are  borne,  by  his 
glowing  language,  on  the  wings  of  Divine  love,  till,  soar- 
ing far  above  the  things  of  earth,  we  feel  safe  and  secured 
from  sin  and  temptation  in  the  bosom  of  God.  Here  the 
end  at  which  your  religion  aims  in  its  material  sacraments 
and  outward  ceremonies,  is  attained  at  once.  Surely 
simplicity  marks  all  the  ways  of  God ;  and  the  Religion 
that  attains  its  chief  end,  union  of  the  soul  with  its 
Creator  and  Redeemer,  is  more  likely  to  be  acceptable  to 
Him,  than  one  that  appeals  to  us  through  every  organ  of 
sense,  and  requires  so  much  labor  and  instruction  to 
understand  it.  And  yet  you  will  say  that  this  emotional 
and  delightful  Religion  of  feeling  is  not  real,  that  it 
mocks  and  deceives  us.  Is  it  not  wiser  then  to  cling  to 
the  simple  Religion  of  nature — to  bask  in  the  sunshine, 
to  gaze  on  the  loveliness  of  the  varied  landscape,  to  inhale 
the  sweet  odors  of  the  wild  fiowers,  to  drink  in  the  har- 
mony of  the  rippling  stream,  and  the  song  ever  fresh  and 
ever  new  of  the  world  of  life  around  us,  till  we  '  feel 
good  all  over  ? '     Here  at  least  we  are  safe,  there  is  noth- 


216      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AS   OPPOSED  TO 

ing  to  delude  ns,  and  tlie  mind,  as  well  as  the  body,  is 
rendered  healthy  and  vigorous." 

On  this  point,  as  in  the  case  of  every  objection,  I  have 
put  the  difficulty  as  forcibly  as  I  could.  And  what  is  my 
answer  ?  Just  as  this  sensuous  enjoyment  of  nature  leads 
to  nothing  but  the  animal  gratification  of  those  who 
either  have  never  learned,  or  having  learned,  disdain  "  to 
rise  through  nature  up  to  nature's  God ;"  so  do  these 
emotional  forms  of  Christian  worship,  which  I  have  just 
described,  end  in  meaningless  or  fatal  delusion.  They 
deaden  the  higher  faculties  of  beings  created  to  know  and 
serve  their  Creator,  and  leave  them  in  a  state  of  almost 
hopeless  languor  and  profound  indifference  to  duty.  These 
gushing  extempore  prayers,  and  the  emotions  they  excite, 
and  this  seeking  after  sensible  indications  of  the  presence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  while  they  satisfy  the  longings  of 
pious  natures,  too  often  betray  their  most  earnest  and 
zealous  votaries  into  the  hands  of  their  worst  spiritual 
enemies. 

The  essential  difference  between  these  forms  of  Chris- 
tianity and  Catholicity  consists  in  this,  that,  whereas, 
while  Catholic  worship  leads  us,  through  sense,  to  com- 
mune with  God,  presents  to  us  something  real,  and  care- 
fully fixes  our  thoughts  and  feelings  on  this  reality ;  this 
religion  of  emotion  ends,  as  it  begins,  in  mere  sensibility, 
and  vapid  piety  aimless  and  objectless.  Feeling  is  the 
"be-all  and  the  end-all"  of  this  imaginary  fervor,  and 
with  the  subsidence  of  feeling,  all  the  seeming  ardor  in 
the  service  of  God  fades  away. 

I  firmly  believe  that  there  is  no  more  dangerous  illu- 
sion, and  no  greater  enemy  to  the  Religion  established  by 
Christ,  than  a  creed  that  encourages  spasmodic  piety  of 
this  kind.     The  worst  of  it  is,  that  it  involves  the  souls 


EMOTIONAL  CHRISTIANITY.  217 

who  trust  in  it  in  the  gravest  dangers.  If  it  be  true,  as 
the  Wise  Man  tells  us,  that  "  no  man  knoweth  whether  he 
be  worthy  of  love  or  hatred"  (Ecclesiastes  ix.  1),  and  if 
St.  Paul  warns  his  obedient  children  of  PhiKppi,  "to 
work  out  their  salvation  with  fear  and  trembhng" 
(Philipp.  ii.  12),  there  must,  on  the  very  face  of  it,  be 
danger  to  the  soul  in  any  form  of  religion  that  promises 
its  adherents  a  positive  and  sensible  assurance  of  the  cer- 
tainty of  their  salvation. 

I  do  not  doubt  for  a  moment  that  souls  glowing  with 
apparent  fervor,  may,  and  do  feel,  something  like  a  super- 
natural emotion  that  gives  peace  to  the  soul.  But  there 
is  a  peace  that  is  not  real  peace  according  to  God.  "  Satan 
himself  transformeth  himself  into  an  angel  of  light" 
(2  Cor.  ii.  14).  The  Catholic  Church  has  ever  set  her 
face  against  delusions  of  this  kind ;  and  her  most  distin- 
guished saints  have  laid  down  rules  for  the  guidance  of 
earnest  Christians,  in  that  most  difficult  sort  of  super- 
natural knowledge  which,  according  to  St.  Paul,  ranks 
next  after  the  power  of  performing  miracles  and  uttering 
prophecies, — "the  discerning  of  spirits"  (1  Cor.  xii.  10). 
What  can  be  a  more  dangerous  delusion  for  a  Christian, 
who  believes  that  at  the  day  of  judgment  he  must  render 
an  account  for  every  idle  word  (Matt.  xii.  36),  than  to 
imagine  that,  in  a  moment  of  what  may  be,  if  not  a  dia- 
bolical illusion,  at  least  a  certain  pitch  of  nervous  excite- 
ment, all  his  sins  are  cancelled?  What  can  be  more 
opposed  to  this  pleasing  conviction  than  the  words  of  our 
Divine  Lord,  constantly  preached  by  the  Catholic  Church, 
alike  to  the  just  and  sinners, — "  unless  you  do  penance, 
you  shall  all  perish"  (Luke  xiii.  3). 

But  I  am  not  arguing  with  Christians  who  are  non- 
CathoHcs  ;  I  am  defending  Catholic  Christianity  against 


218      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  AS   OPPOSED  TO 

the  unbeliever,  who  fancies  he  discovers  in  Catholic  doc- 
trine, an  enchanting  solace  as  false  and  delusive  as  that 
which  he  sees  in  other  forms  of  Christianity. 

"  This  is  your  grand  comfort,"  he  says,  "  that  through 
union  with  Christ  in  the  sacraments  you  find  peace  of 
soul.  Other  Christians  not  only  promise,  but  give  a  pos- 
itive assurance  of  this  peace,  without  any  sacraments  at 
all :  and  if  this  peace  be  a  delusion  in  one  case,  why  is  it 
not  one  in  the  Catholic  Church  also  ?"  And  he  goes  far- 
ther, and,  here  is  the  very  point  of  his  argument,  "  We 
know  and  are  certain,"  he  says,  "  that  all  this  so-called 
peace  in  those  who  say  they  feel  an  assurance  and  sensible 
conviction  of  its  attainment,  is  a  mere  exaggeration  of 
feeling.  We  know  that  the  greatest  reprobates,  whose 
hearts  are  wedded  to  iniquity  of  every  kind,  can  lash 
themselves  into  this  state  of  emotional  fervor,  and  see 
visions,  and  hear  the  voice  of  what  they  call  the  Spirit  of 
God  assuring  them  of  pardon.  They  are  clearly  mis- 
taken ;  and  so  may  the  pious  Catholic  also  be  deceived ; 
and  therefore  this  Religion,  which  you  have  described  as 
so  beautiful  and  charming,  may  be  found  after  all  to  be  a 
mere  idle  dream,  which,  when  thoroughly  sifted  by  sound 
reason,  contains  within  it  not  one  grain  of  substance." 

I  have  already  said,  in  noticing  this  difficulty,  that  the 
object  before  the  Catholic,  when  he  feels  himself  carried 
away  by  feelings  of  fervor,  is  something  real,  fixed,  and 
definite.  He  cannot  be  deceived,  because  "  he  is  taught 
of  God."  The  living  and  speaking  voice  of  God  reaches 
him  through  the  infallible  Church,  assuring  him  that  he 
may  aspire  to  a  perfect  union  with  God  in  the  Blessed 
Sacrament.  He  may  indeed  be  deceived  in  all  that  re- 
gards his  own  dispositions;  he  may  not  have  "proved 
himself  "  sufficiently.    Notwithstanding  the  help  and  light 


EMOTIONAL  CHRISTIANITY.  219 

afforded  him  in  the  holy  tribunal  of  penance,  his  sonl 
may  stiU  harbor  secret  attachments  to  sin.  Though  he 
knows  perfectly  well  that  the  occasions  of  sin  must  be 
cut  off,  and  the  injury  done  to  the  neighbor  in  character 
or  property  rectified,  before  he  dares  to  approach  the 
holy  table,  still  he  may  hope  with  confidence  propor- 
tioned to  the  earnestness  of  his  purpose  of  amendment, 
and  to  the  judgment  of  his  confessor  in  the  reality  of 
that  earnestness,  that  he  does  not  deceive  himself. 

The  Catholic  Church  teaches,  as  the  very  A.  B.  C.  of 
her  doctrine  of  the  possibility  of  being  "  made  partakers 
of  the  Divine  nature,"  what  St.  Peter  so  plainly  sets  be- 
fore us,  when  he  points  out  "  the  very  great  and  precious 
promises  of  this  supernatural  union"  (2  Pet.  i.  4-10). 
That  those  who  aspire  to  it,  "  must  fiy  from  the  corrup- 
tion of  that  concupiscence  which  is  in  the  world."  Not 
Faith  alone  will  suffice,  according  to  this  Apostle,  but  the 
earnest  Christian  must  labor  diKgently  "to  join  with 
Faith,  virtue,  and  with  virtue  knowledge," — that  is  to 
say  the  real  knowledge  of  seK — "  and  the  abstinence,  and 
patience,  and  piety,  and  charity  that  spring,  through 
God's  grace,  from  this  saving  knowledge."  Without  this 
labor  and  diligence,  though  his  heart  might  feel  all  aglow 
with  the  ecstasies  of  Divine  love,  he  would  be,  as  St. 
Peter  says,  "  blind  and  groping,  forgetting  his  old  sins," 
and  destitute  of  that  deep  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness, 
which  leads  those  who  truly  love  the  Saviour,  and  desire 
to  be  made  one  with  Him,  "  to  labor  the  more,  that  by 
good  works,  they  make  their  calling  and  election  sure." 
When  union  with  God  in  the  Holy  Communion  is  pre- 
ceded by  this  proving  of  one's  self,  then  indeed  the 
Catholic  "  doing  these  things,"  may  hope  "  not  again  to 
sin  at  any  time"  (2  Pet.  i.  10). 


220      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AS   OPPOSED  TO 

There  is  a  wide  difference  liere  between  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity and  that  intimate  persuasion,  and  sensible  con- 
viction of  imputative  justification,  which  was  the  bright 
discovery  of  the  unfortunate  Luther,  when  he  had  grown 
tired  of  good  works,  and  weary  of  his  solemn  vows,  and 
felt  himself  impelled  by  his  strong  passions  to  cast  away 
the  anchor  of  Christian  hope,  to  turn  his  back  on  the 
light  of  true  Faith,  and  steer  forth  on  the  wide  waters  of 
Free-thought. 

God  lielp  those  who  set  up  his  grand  theory,  so  charm- 
ing to  perverse  nature,  before  the  hard  teaching  of  Christ 
and  His  Apostles ;  and  so  refuse  to  bear  the  cross  daily 
after  their  Divine  Master,  nor  see  to  do  themselves  that 
salutary  violence,  which  is  necessary  for  the  attainment 
of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  (Matt.  xi.  12). 

I  have  said  that  there  is  no  more  dangerous  illusion, 
nor  a  greater  enemy  to  Catholic  Christianity  than  this 
sentimental  religion  of  mere  subjective  feeling.  No 
more  dangerous  illusion,  because,  founded  on  the  fanciful 
and  prejudiced  interpretation  of  some  texts  of  Scripture, 
it  may  be,  and  often  is,  a  real  temptation  of  the  devil. 
Dangerous  too,  because  it  seems  to  satisfy  the  souls  of 
earnest  men  and  women,  who  mistake  its  unwholesome 
and  frothy  excitement,  for  the  substantial  "  Bread  of 
life."  Still  more  dangerous,  because  it  puffs  up  the  soul 
with  presumptuous  pride,  and,  while  whetting  the  ap- 
petite for  sensual  enjoyment,  by  developing  a  highly 
wrought  sensibihty,  it  impels  its  unfortunate  votaries 
into  the  very  whirlpools  and  rapids  of  sore  tempta- 
tion. 

There  are,  I  am  convinced,  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  earnest  and  sincere  Christians,  outside  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  who,  fed  on  this  garbage,  have  gradually  lost 


EMOTIONAL   OHIIISTIA  NITY.  221 

all  taste  for  the  Heavenly  food  of  the  Blessed  Eucliarist, 
become  utterly  sensual,  "  perceive  not  the  things  that  are 
of  the  Spirit  of  God "  (1  Cor.  ii.  14),  and  learn  to  deride 
the  great  gift  as  "a  fond  delusion,"  and  a  thing  to  be  dis- 
carded as  foolish  and  unreal.  Most  of  these  certainly 
would  be  saints,  in  the  true  acceptation  of  the  term,  and 
as  it  is  known  in  the  Church  of  God,  if  they  had  learned 
betimes  to  be  guided  in  all  humility  and  docility  by  the 
fond  mother  of  all  the  living,  whom  our  Divine  Lord 
has  left  us  to  teach  what  we  must  do  to  please  Him. 

And  what  greater  enemy  to  Catholic  Christianity  can 
there  be  than  this  flaunting,  presumptuous,  self -justifying 
and  Pharisaical  piety,  which,  without  mission  from  above, 
rudely  intrudes  itself  on  public  notice,  and  fancies  that  it 
is  only  doing  the  work  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  when 
it  flings  aside  the  control  of  ordinary  prudence,  and 
challenges  vice  and  worldliness,  in  "  the  very  torrent, 
tempest  and  whirlwind  of  its  passion  "? 

Such  "  out  of  season"  cant  must  often  lead  to  profanity. 
I  remember  a  fact  bearing  on  this  matter  which  may  set 
my  meaning  in  a  better  light.  When  the  soldiers  were 
blockaded  by  the  Boers  at  Durban,  and  all  Grahamstown 
was  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement  as  to  whether  the 
men  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment,  who  had  to  a  man 
volunteered,  and  gone  to  the  relief  of  their  comrades, 
would  arrive  in  time  to  save  them,  a  gentleman  con- 
nected intimately  with  many  military  friends  then  in 
extreme  peril,  was  met  by  a  sanctimonious  old  charac- 
ter not  favorably  known  in  the  city,  who  accosted  him 
with  the  words — ^^  Have  you  heard  the  joyful  news?" 
— "  E"o,  what  ?"  exclaimed  the  gentleman,  from  whom  I 
heard  the  incident.—"  The  Lord  came  down  on  earth  to 
save  sinners,  and  you  among  the  number."     I  leave  my 


222      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AS    OPPOSED   TO 

readers  to  imagine  the  disgust  excited  by  tMs  ill-timed 
announcement. 

When  men  of  the  world,  who  have  renounced  Kevealed 
religion,  identify  this  bold  and  pretentious  mode  of  piety 
with  Christianity,  it  is  no  wonder  they  are  led  to  hate 
and  abominate  Christianity  itself.  They  forget  or  ignore 
all  they  may  have  heard  of  that  higher  form  of  belief, 
which  is  ever  calm  in  Faith,  strong  in  Hope,  and  Majes- 
tic in  its  noble  and  self-sacrificing  charity,  and  which, 
endeavoring  to  screen  its  charms  from  public  gaze,  re- 
serves all  its  beauty  for  the  eyes  of  the  great  King.  They 
feel  stung  to  the  height  of  indignation  at  this  sancti- 
monious wordiness  and  hypocrisy,  and  deeming  all  Chris- 
tian forms  of  rehgion  the  same,  they  prefer  to  commune 
with  the  poetry  of  nature,  than  to  bow  down  and  worship 
with  men  who  can  picture  to  themselves  a  God  who 
could  be  imposed  upon  by  this  outward  show  of  unreal 
and  hollow  professions  of  piety.  It  is  not  surprising, 
under  these  circumstances,  that  many  highly-gifted  men 
and  women,  deceived  as  to  the  true  character  of  pure 
Christianity,  and  putting  this  empty  sentimentalism  in 
its  place,  have  assailed  it  with  the  most  bitter  invective. 

I  may  not  quote  IngersoU's  "  vision  of  judgment ;"  it 
is  too  irreverent,  as  expressed  in  his  own  words.  But 
from  the  idea  which  I  will  give,  it  will  be  seen  at  once, 
that  the  power  of  men  of  this  stamp  to  upheave  Chris- 
tianity in  the  minds  of  some,  by  force  of  ridicule,  arises 
from  the  complete  misapprehension  they  have  wilfully  or 
foolishly  formed  of  the  reality. 

"Smith,"  the  hard-working  laboring  man,  honest, 
sober,  and  industrious,  and  devotedly  attached  to  his  wife 
and  family,  is  ignominiously  cast  into  outer  darkness 
because  he  has  not  been  a  reader  and  distributor  of  tracts, 


EMOTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY.  223 

and  is  not  familiar  with  sanctimonious  and  unctuous 
phrases.  While  the  other  "  Smith,"  who  has  robbed  his 
employers,  coveted,  and  carried  off  his  neighbor's  wife, 
and  softly  yielded  to  temptation  by  ''  trying  fire"  and 
other  nefarious  practices,  is  raised  to  the  clouds  and 
gifted  "  with  a  harp,"  because  he  had  cleverly  succeeded 
during  life  in  veiling  his  iniquity  by  assiduous  attention 
to  prayer-meetings,  and  other  such  practices,  as  have,  in 
these  days  in  which  we  live,  marked  the  career  of  some 
of  the  most  notorious  swindlers  and  forgers,  and  robbers 
of  the  poor,  that  ever  disgraced  the  fair  name  of  a  nation 
boasting  of  its  righteousness. 

If  Charles  Dickens  exalts  honhomie  and  natural  vir- 
tue above  the  supernatural,  it  is  only  because  his  strong 
prejudices  prevented  his  acute  perception  from  examin- 
ing into  the  real  nature  of  Catholic  Christianity.  Had 
he  allowed  his  honest  nature  to  yield  to  the  sweet  attrac- 
tions of  Divine  grace,  he  would  have  developed  in  all 
likelihood  into  the  heau-ideal  of  a  Catholic  gentleman. 
Ko  doubt  he  had  glimpses  of  the  truth ;  the  purity  of 
his  conceptions  of  female  excellence,  as  shown  in  his 
heroines,  like  those  of  the  poet  Longfellow,  could  only 
spring  from  a  sort  of  intuition  of  human  nature,  exalted 
above  ordinary  weaknesses  by  the  supernatural  gift  of 
God.  Dickens  has  severely  lashed  that  form  of  Chris- 
tianity which  I  have  just  noted,  and  though  he  made 
bitter  enemies  by  the  severity  of  his  chastisement,  he  has 
done  much  to  check  the  morbid  admiration  for  *'  pious" 
criminals  that  was,  in  his  time,  fast  becoming  fashion- 
able. 

They  who  have  read  the  account  of  the  "  two  interest- 
ing penitents,"  given  in  the  33d  chapter  of  "  David  Cop- 
perfield,"  cannot  but  loathe  and  detest  the  caricature  of 


224      CATHOLIC    CHKISTIANITY   AS    OPPOSED   TO 

real  piety  exliibited  in  Uriali  Heep  and  Mr.  Littimer. 
How  exquisite  is  the  satire  on  wretched  h^^pocrisy,  con- 
veyed in  the  parting  words  of  the  latter  to  the  magistrates 
visiting  the  prison  :  "  Gentlemen,  I  wish  yon  a  good 
day,  and  hoping  yon  and  yonr  families  will  also  see  your 
wickedness,  and  amend " !  Or  in  the  words  of  Heep 
about  his  mother — "  I  am  afraid  she  ain't  safe,  immort- 
ally safe,  sir.  I  should  wish  mother  to  be  got  into  my 
state,  I  wish  mother  had  come  here.  It  would  be  better 
for  everybody,  if  they  got  took  up,  and  was  brought 
here" ! 

This  is  hard  hitting ;  but,  as  the  clever  writer  says, — 
"  Perhaps  it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  an  unsound  hobby 
ridden  hard;  for  it's  the  sooner  ridden  to  death."  Of 
course  Dickens  caricatures  this  mock  Christianity,  as  he 
does  the  other  nuisances  of  society :  but  ridicule  is  a 
powerful  weapon,  when  wielded  by  a  master-hand,  and 
applied  to  real  evils — the  best  remedy  perhaps,  and  the 
most  appreciated  in  this  unthinking  age. 

They  who  know  anything  of  Catholic  Christianity,  will 
never  charge  it  with  infusing  into  its  penitents,  self- 
justification,  forgetfulness  of  one's  own  sins,  and  affected 
pity  for  the  sins  of  others.  The  attacks  of  such  as  these, 
who  have  studied  even  hurriedly  our  books  of  instruc- 
tion, and  got  to  know  the  rudiments  of  Catholic  morality 
as  regards  repentance,  will  be  directed  against  another 
point  altogether.  Our  system  of  repentance,  this  rigid 
adherence  to  the  teaching  of  St.  Peter,  as  quoted  above, 
is  according  to  their  notions,  much  too  strict.  Confession 
is  held  to  be  "  a  cruel  butchery  of  the  soul,"  and  peni- 
tential works  and  austerities,  misplaced  and  profitless 
severity  towards  self.  Even  if  they  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  beauty  of  that  union  with  God,  which  is  the  object 


EMOTIONAL   CHRISTIANITY.  225 

of  our  Faith,  and  Hope,  and  Charity,  thej  exclaim 
against  the  great  price  which  we  require,  in  the  securing 
of  so  splendid  a  privilege.  Catholic  doctrine  is,  in  their 
view,  unnaturally  harsh  and  repulsive :  it  interferes  with 
the  comforts  of  life  ;  it  disturbs  the  peace  of  families. 

"  Why  should  religion,"  as  I  once  heard  a  good-natured 
and  kind-hearted  English  lady  say,  "  have  anything  to  do 
with  one's  regular  meals,  upsetting  and  disturbing  them  ?" 
"  Why,"  again,  it  is  said,  "  should  young  persons  leave 
the  bright  world,  and  shut  themselves  up  in  convents  ?" 
This  hard  Religion  turns  people  against  their  own  dearest 
friends,  and  extinguishes  charity.  And,  after  all,  what 
is  Eeligion  without  charity  1  Is  it  not,  as  St.  Paul  says 
— "  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkHng  cymbal "  ?  (1  Cor.  xiii. 

I  will  answer  these  and  cognate  charges,  in  the  words 
of  Cardinal  Manning,  '^  The  love  of  the  neighbor  springs 
from  the  love  of  God ;  the  love  of  kindred,  the  love  of 
friends,  the  love  of  all  that  are  about  us  is  a  part  of  the 
love  of  God.  As  radiance  is  a  part  of  light,  so  the  love 
of  mankind  flows  in  a  direct  stream  from  the  love  of 
God.  Therefore  aversion  from  creatures"  (the  perfection 
of  Christianity  according  to  Catholic  teaching)  "  means 
this,  that  there  are  no  undue  attachments,  no  depend- 
encies, no  bondage  to  creatures,  even  to  the  purest  and 
the  best.  The  soul  is  in  perfect  liberty,  because  it  is 
united  with  God  ;  it  loves  every  one,  each  in  his  measure, 
and  fulfils  every  duty  of  charity  with  a  delicate  tender- 
ness greater  by  far  than  the  love  of  those  who  love  God 
less.  In  the  measure  in  which  we  love  God,  in  that 
measure  we  shall  have  more  heartfelt  love  to  all  that  are 
about  us.  A  father  will  be  a  better  father,  and  a  mother 
a  better  mother ;  son  and  daughter  will  be  better  chil- 


226      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AS   OPPOSED   TO 

dren ;  they  will  love  each  other  more,  and  friends  will 
love  one  another  more  in  the  measure  in  which  they  love 
God  more.  Therefore  aversion  from  creatures  means  a 
rational  and  measured  love  which  sets  us  free  from  all 
undue  attachments." 

If  this  were  more  insisted  on  in  practice  outside  the 
Catholic  Church,  Infidels  would  have  far  less  to  say 
against  any  form  of  Christianity,  than  unfortunately  they 
can  urge  at  present,  when  the  doctrines  of  free-love,  and 
other  similar  fashionable  theories,  are  spreading  so  gen- 
erally. An  appeal  to  the  instincts  of  fallen  human  nature 
is  a  sorry  argument  against  the  Divine  religion,  which 
our  Lord  has  delivered  to  us.  Though  He  has  been 
pleased,  through  our  senses,  to  draw  us  to  Himself,  and 
enable  us  to  feel  the  regenerating  influence  of  His 
presence  amongst  us,  He  has  not  shrunk,  through 
delicacy  for  our  natural  feelings,  from  declaring  that  He 
has  not  come  to  send  peace,  according  to  our  notions, 
upon  the  earth ;  but  what  is,  on  the  contrary,  directly 
opposed  to  these  feelings,  "  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but 
the  sword"  (Matt.  x.  34). 

When  Bishop  Colenso  propounded  the  new  heresy, 
that  the  natives  of  South  Africa  were  not  to  be  disturbed 
in  their  gross  habits  of  polygamy,  and  pushed  the  argu- 
mentum  ad  hominem  to  the  utmost  by  arguing  that  we 
were  not  to  shock  the  feelings  of  the  natives,  by  re- 
quiring from  them  an  act  of  injustice,  according  to  tlieir 
ideas,  in  compelling  them  to  put  away  all  their  wives  but 
one,  he  forgot  here,  as  in  many  of  his  other  natural  views 
of  Religion,  that  the  Divine  message,  and  not  a  human 
interpretation  of  it,  is  necessary  to  salvation.  When  he 
pleaded  for  his  proteges,  with  more  than  his  ordinary 
eloquence  and  persuasive  powers,  he  seemed  not  to  bear 


EMOTIONAL    CUKISTIANITY.  227 

in  mind,  that  our  Divine  Lord  had  declared  "  that  a 
man's  enemies  should,  under  His  law,  be  they  of  his  own 
household "  (Matt.  x.  36),  and  that  sacrifices  far  greater, 
than  separation  from  many  wives,  were  actually  made  by 
the  two  and  a  half  millions,  who  in  the  first  three  cent 
uries  of  persecution,  in  Rome  alone,  sealed  their  violent 
rending  from  worldly  honor  and  distinction,  and  home 
and  all  its  endearments,  by  the  testimony  of  their  blood. 
The  subjects  treated  of  in  this  chapter  seem  to  me  to 
require  as  full  an  account  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  of 
justification,  as  can  be  given  in  a  work  of  this  kind ;  it 
will  therefore  form  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 


228  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY, 


CHAPTEK  XI. 

Catholic  Christianity,  Justification  and  Sanctity. 

TJS"  the  last  chapter,  I  endeavored,  as  briefly  as  possible, 
-■-  to  combat  that  false  notion  of  unbelief,  which  assumes 
that  Catholic  Christianity  teaches,  that  the  greatest  repro- 
bates may,  in  a  moment,  by  an  inward  sensible  convic- 
tion, be  transformed  into  "children  of  light."  This 
involves  a  grave  error  not  unmixed  with  truth,  and 
requires  that  I  should,  plainly  and  in  simple  language, 
unfold  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  justification.  My  best 
efforts  will  be  directed  to  avoid  theological  technicalities, 
and  to  popularize,  as  far  as  I  can,  this  profound  and 
mysterious  subject,  which,  for  the  last  three  hundred 
years,  has  exercised  the  minds  of  the  most  able  scholars 
in  Divinity,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant. 

There  is  something  shocking  to  natural  reason  in  the 
notion,  that  a  vile  ruffian,  steeped  in  crime,  may  be  sud- 
denly transformed  into  a  saint ;  that  the  murderer,  rob- 
ber, and  adulterer  may,  in  a  moment,  shine  before  men 
like  the  perfection  of  angelic  purity;  that,  to  quote 
Dickens  again,  the  Fagins,  and  Heeps,  and  Pecksniffs  of 
society,  may,  suddenly  and  without  any  external  signs  of 
repentance  and  change  of  heart,  rise  to  the  moral  dignity 
of  self-sacrificing,  simple,  candid  natures,  like  JSTelly  or 
Little  Dorrit. 

Yet  there  have  been  such  transformations.  The  sinful 
woman  of  the  city  looked  into  the  face  of  our  Divine 
Lord,  wept,  and  was  forgiven.     The  robber  on  the  cross 


JUSTIFICATION   AND   SANCTITY.  229 

was  no  sooner  touched  with  pity  for  the  suffering  Saviour 
beside  him,  than  he  heard  words  of  comfort,  seldom 
vouchsafed  to  the  most  holy  on  earth.  Paul,  while  thirst 
ing  for  the  blood  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  was  changed 
into  "  a  vessel  of  election."  David,  burdened  with  sins 
that  cry  to  heaven  for  vengeance,  said,  in  the  sincerity  of 
his  heart,  "  I  have  sinned,"  and  forthwith  became  dear 
to  the  heart  of  God,  and  the  model  of  all  true  penitents. 
]^ay  more  than  this,  for  these  are  extraordinary  cases,  an 
act  of  perfect  contrition  will,  according  to  Catholic  the- 
ology, secure,  through  the  superabundant  merits  of  Christ, 
the  immediate  pardon  of  the  greatest  sinner. 

Where  then  is  the  difference  between  Catholic  teach- 
ing on  this  point  of  justification,  and  that  instantaneous 
change  of  a  reprobate  into  a  fully  developed  rose  of  sanc- 
tity, that  excites  the  disgust  and  scorn  of  the  children  of 
unbelief  ?  It  is  to  be  found  mainly  in  that  plain  teach- 
ing of  St.  Peter  (2  Pet.  i.)  already  quoted  in  the  last 
chapter.  "We  are  changed  indeed  in  a  moment — "  made 
partakers  of  the  Divine  nature  ;"  for  the  communication 
of  a  vital  principle  cannot  be  considered  other  than  as 
consummated  in  a  single  moment. 

Grievous  sin  is  called  mortal,  because  it  kills  the  soul ; 
and  the  change  from  death  to  life,  when  one  is  really 
converted  by  the  grace  of  God,  must  be,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  an  instantaneous  change.  One  cannot 
be  dead  and  living  at  the  same  moment.  But  there  is  a 
vast  difference  between  the  first  germ  of  fife,  and  that 
further  development  in  virtue,  knowledge,  abstinence, 
patience,  piety,  and  brotherly  love  and  charity,  of  which 
the  Apostle  speaks,  before  there  can  be  an  entire  transi- 
tion from  the  life  of  the  flesh  to  the  fife  of  the  spirit. 

It  is  something  monstrous,  not  only  to  the  view  of 


230  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY, 

natural  intelligence,  but  to  sound  Christian  theology,  to 
behold  the  scandalous  sinner  of  to-day,  a  full-iledged 
saint  to-morrow,  to  hear  the  brawler,  or  the  drunkard,  or 
the  profligate,  become  at  once,  not  a  mere  "babe  of 
grace,"  but  a  preacher,  and  a  teacher,  and  an  exhorter, 
"forgetting  his  being  purged  from  his  old  sins,"  and, 
like  Uriah  Heep,  only  anxious  about  the  sins  of  others. 
There  is  something  sickening  and  revolting  in  the  spec- 
tacle of  a  wretch,  who  should,  like  Magdalene,  be  bathing 
the  feet  of  the  merciful  Saviour  with  the  tears  of  com- 
punction, or,  like  David,  supplicating  the  Divine  mercy 
from  the  depths  of  his  humiliation,  standing  boldly  for- 
ward on  a  platform,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  late  asso 
ciates  in  every  enormity,  recounting  "  his  experiences," 
and  deploring  their  blindness. 

Such  a  disgusting  spectacle  is  altogether  unknown  in 
the  Catholic  Church.  He  who  has  given  scandal,  should 
indeed  repair  the  scandal,  by  suffering,  under  wise  direc- 
tion, the  light  of  his  altered  life  to  shine,  in  modesty,  and 
gravity,  and  persevering  prayer,  and  the  avoidance  of  the 
occasions  of  his  former  sins,  so  that  theyj  who  had  been 
witnesses  of  his  folly,  may  glorify  God,  in  his  change  of 
heart.  But  the  less  he  has  to  say  about  himself  the  bet- 
ter. The  public  confession  of  his  evil  deeds  is  unneces- 
sary; and  would,  even  if  they  were  not  detailed  in  all 
their  enormity,  be  scarcely  edifying ;  and  the  manifesta- 
tion of  "  the  very  great  and  precious"  favor  accorded  to 
him  by  the  Divine  mercy,  might  flatter  a  secret  pride, 
that  would  soon  extinguish  the  small  ray  of  Divine  light, 
which  had  communicated  a  feeble  life  to  his  guilty  con- 
science. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Church,  penitents  often  con- 
fessed their  sins  in  public ;  but  this  was  only  under  the 


JUSTIFICATION   AND   SANCTITY.  231 

direction  of  a  prudent  priest,  duly  appointed  to  the  office 
of  determining  when  this  part  of  the  satisfaction  for  sin 
was  Kkely  to  conduce  to  the  spiritual  benefit  of  the  public 
penitents  in  the  congregation.  We  know,  from  Socrates 
and  Sozomen,  the  historians  of  the  primitive  ages  of  the 
Chi^/ch,  that,  through  scandals,  the  practice  was  discon- 
tinued. What  I  have  said  will  enable  my  readers  more 
clearly  to  understand  the  difference  between  Catholic  be- 
lief and  practice  concerning  justification,  and  the  notions 
prevalent  amongst  certain  Christian  sects,  which  excite 
the  bitter  hostility  of  unbelievers. 

The  Council  of  Trent  describes  justification  to  be  an 
exaltation  from  the  state  of  sinfulness  to  that  of  grace, 
and  of  adoption  of  the  children  of  God — "A  state, 
which,"  as  Dr.  Moehler  says  (Symbolism,  p.  146),  "  is  in 
a  negative  sense,  that  of  remission  of  sin,  and  in  a  posi- 
tive sense,  that  of  sanctification." 

These  two  states  are  often  confounded  by  Christians, 
who  do  not  accept  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church : 
and  this  confusion  has  led  to  the  misconception  by  unbe- 
lievers, and  abuse  of  Catholic  doctrine.  By  the  grace  of 
God,  purchased  for  us  through  the  sufferings  and  death 
of  our  Divine  Redeemer,  the  truly  penitent  obtain  par- 
don, are  made  just,  and  this  instantaneously,  so  the  light 
is  admitted  in  the  room  of  darkness,  and  death  gives  way 
before  life.  But  something  more  takes  place,  that,  ordi- 
narily speaking,  requires  time ;  and  this  is  the  transfusion 
of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  into  the  soul  of  the  penitent,  in 
other  words,  the  development  of  the  germ  of  the  new 
life,  communicated  instantaneously  by  the  act  of  justifi- 
cation. 

To  express  this  more  plainly,  and  in  a  way  in  which 
the  sense  will  be  obvious  to  a  passing  reader,  I  would 


233  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY, 

say,  that,  by  justification,  life  is  communicated  to  one 
that  was  dead :  but  this  little  spark  of  life,  like  the  first 
faint  indications  of  breathing  in  one  recovering  from  a 
trance,  or  rescued,  at  the  last  moment,  from  a  watery 
grave,  must  be  carefully  nursed  into  vigorous  life,  before 
it  is  capable  of  anything  that  can  indicate  sanctification. 
If,  in  addition  to  this,  we  picture  to  ourselves  a  certain 
state  of  soul  that  precedes  the  instantaneous  act  of  com- 
municating spiritual  life,  a  certain  "  susceptibility,"  as 
Dr.  Moehler  expresses  it,  "  dependent  on  a  series  of  pre- 
liminary, mutually  qualifying  emotions  in  the  inner 
man,"  we  shall  then  fully  understand  justification  in  the 
Catholic  sense,  and  as  opposed  to  that  extraordinary 
transition  from  turpitude  to  sanctity,  which  excites  the 
ridicule  and  contempt  of  unbelievers. 

Before  man  can  be  adopted  as  a  child  of  God,  there 
must  be  a  gradual  preparation,  a  certain  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  sinner  to  avail  himself  of  the  great  gift, 
when  it  is  offered.  "  From  the  period,"  says  the  learned 
Doctor,  already  quoted,  "  wherein  our  faculties  of  dis- 
cernment have  clung  with  undoubting  firmness  to  re- 
vealed truths,  the  struggling  soul  moves  on  through  fear 
and  hope,  through  grief  and  intuitive  love,  through 
struggle  and  victory,  up  to  that  happy  moment,  w^hen 
all  its  better  energies,  hitherto  dissipated,  unite  under 
the  impulse  of  a  higher  power,  for  obtaining  a  decisive 
conquest ;  where,  by  the  full  infusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  union  with  Christ  is  consummated,  and  we  belong 
wholly  to  Him,  and  He  again  joyfully  recognizes  Him- 
self in  us"  (Symbolism,  p.  149). 

It  is  not  that,  by  this  mental  process,  and  this  gradually 
developed  susceptibility,  we  me7'it  the  grace  of  justifica- 
tion.    That   would   be  Pelagianism,  a  rank  heresy  con- 


JUSTIFICATION    AND   SANCTITY.  233 

demned  in  the  days  of  St.  Augustine,  by  the  Catholic 
Church. 

Perhaps  what  I  have  said  about  the  sudden  raising 
from  death  to  life,  may  render  what  I  have  just  ex- 
plained, somewhat  obscure.  But  the  meaning  is  soon 
clear.  Though  the  soul  be  dead  in  a  spiritual  sense,  yet 
the  grace  of  God  may  be  active  within  it ;  moving  and 
exciting  the  tardy  death-like  will  to  something  like 
exertion.  God  can  do  nothing  in  the  soul  of  the  sinner, 
till  the  human  will,  under  the  influence  of  preventing 
grace,  begins  to  believe,  and  fear,  and  then  hope,  and 
love,  and  thus  co-operate  with  the  impulses  that  indicate 
the  advent  of  returning  life.  This  is  what  we  under- 
stand by  that  susceptibility  or  fitness  for  the  precious 
gift  of  justification. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  this  crowning  of  the  good  work, 
begun  by  Grace,  is  purely  gratuitous  on  the  part  of  God. 
Man,  however  readily  he  may  co-operate  with  these  first 
impressions  of  Grace,  cannot,  on  this  acGoimt^  be  said  to 
merit  or  deserve  this  grace :  a  certain  state  of  preparation 
for  a  thing  must  not  be  confounded  Avith  the  cause  of 
that  thing  itself.  The  signal-man,  and  others  preparing 
actively  for  the  arrival  of  the  train,  have  no  influence 
whatever  in  causing  its  approach. 

If  what  I  have  explained  be  clearly  understood,  there 
will  be  so  much  the  less  difiiculty  for  any  one  of  ordinary 
intelligence  in  mastering  what  is  further  necessary  to  be 
said,  in  order  to  show  the  difference  between  Catholic 
justification,  and  the  notions  of  Christian  sects,  which  are 
^vrongly  ascribed  by  unbelievers  to  the  Church  of  God. 
The  work  of  justification  proceeds  gradually  in  the  soul 
of  the  converted  and  justified ;  because,  after  sin  is  for- 
given, there  remains  a  perverse  sensuality.     This  con- 


234 

cupiscence,  as  it  is  called,  or  stimulus  to  sin,  is  not  by 
any  means  a  sin  in  itself.  It  will  no  doubt  lead  us  to 
sin,  if  we  follow  its  suggestions ;  but  as  long  as  we  re- 
sist, it  cannot  injure  us ;  nor  separate  us  from  the  new 
life  obtained  in  justification.  On  the  contrary,  if  we  re- 
sist it  victoriously,  by  co-operating  with  the  grace  of  God, 
it  will  render  us  more  pleasing  in  His  sight,  and  add  to 
our  crown  hereafter. 

But  it  is  only  by  determined  and  persevering  conflict 
with  this  temptation  to  evil,  that  the  fruits  of  sanctification 
begin  to  manifest  themselves.  These  happy  effects  are 
seen  and  felt  in  the  sincere  and  earnest  Christian ;  first 
by  himself,  in  the  gradual  decrease  of  the  influence  of  this 
concupiscence ;  and,  in  course  of  time,  by  those  about 
him,  in  the  steady  calmness,  and  absence  of  anything 
like  singularity  in  the  service  of  God.  The  more  his 
soul  is  at  peace  with  God,  the  stronger  does  the  penitent 
feel,  by  God's  sanctifying  grace,  in  the  possession  of  his 
new  life ;  the  more  instinctively  does  he  shrink  from 
public  notice  ;  and  the  less  does  he  estimate,  as  something 
to  be  exhibited,  his  newly  acquired  virtue.  "  By  the 
grace  of  God,"  he  says  with  the  Apostle,  "  I  am  what  I 
am." — "  I  am  not  conscious  to  myseK  of  any  fault,  but  in 
that  I  am  not  justified." 

There  is  a  prevalent  idea  among  unbelievers,  not 
exactly  that  pious  Catholics  do  not  trust  in  the  merits  of 
their  Eedeemer,  and  that  they  confide  solely  in  their  own 
good  works  (it  is  reserved  for  our  separated  brethren 
to  entertain  these  charitable  views),  but  that  these  pious 
Catholics  must  necessarily  be  proud  and  Pharisaical,  and 
always  thanking  God  "  that  they  are  not  like  the  rest  of 
men." 

How  little  they  know  of  true  sanctity,  who  fancy  that 


JUSTIFICATION   AND    SANCTITY.  285 

the  Holy  Catholic  Church  can  reverence  the  blatant 
egotism  and  effusive  pietj  of  these  "  brands  saved  from 
the  fire,"  that  love  to  make  their  sentimental  piety  fizz 
and  bla-ze  before  the  public ;  and  attribute  to  her  the 
development  of  such  specimens  of  outrageous  hypocrisy? 

Cardinal  Manning  gives  a  far  different  notion  of  such 
sanctity,  when  he  says — "All  our  conformity  to  the 
Sacred  Heart  is  the  work  of  God  in  us :  and  He  perfects 
it  in  measure  and  degree,  as  He  sees  it  to  be  for  our 
good.  He  humbles  us  by  making  us  wait.  We  desire 
to  be  sanctified  with  great  speed,  that  we  may  be  de- 
livered from  the  bondage  of  our  temptations.  We  pray 
to  be  saints  out  of  love  to  ourselves ;  and  if  we  were 
made  saints  to-day,  we  might  fall  to-morrow,  as  the 
angels  did  by  self-contemplation.  .  .  .  Neither  you  nor 
I  are  saints  now,  nor,  in  this  world  perhaps,  ever  will  be. 
And  yet  some  of  you  may  be.  There  may  be  some  poor 
humble  soul  who  hears  me  who  thinks  that  he  is  the 
worst  of  sinners ;  there  may  be  some  poor  woman,  who 
says  that  '  no  soul  was  ever  farther  from  being  a  saint 
than  I  am  ; '  and  yet  it  may  be  that  these  two  are  nearer 
than  we  are  in  their  conformity  to  the  humility  of  Jesus, 
for  '  the  last  shall  be  first  and  the  first  last.'  But  of  one 
thing  I  am  sure — that  if  there  be  such  they  will  be  the 
least  conscious  of  it ;  and  if  anybody  here  thinks  well  of 
himself,  and  that  he  is  in  the  way  to  be  a  saint,  he  is  far 
— perhaps  the  farthest — from  it." 

To  mark  more  distinctly  the  essential  difference  between 
the  Catholic  doctrine  of  justification,  and  that  which  is 
often  mistaken  for  it,  I  may  be  allowed  briefly  to  go  to 
the  very  root  of  the  matter. 

According  to  the  Formulary  of  Concord,  in  which 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists  coincide, — "  Justification  signi- 


236  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY, 

fies  the  declaring  any  one  just,  on  account  of  tlie  justice 
of  Christ,  which  is  by  God  imputed  to  Faith;  and  it 
expressly  declares  our  justice  is  not  of  us.  So  that  while, 
according  to  Catholic  doctrine,  Christ,  by  justification 
stamps  inwardly  and  outwardly  His  living  impress  on 
the  believer,  in  such  a  way  that  the  latter,  though  feeble 
and  imperfect,  becomes  gradually  a  real  copy  of  the  type, 
on  the  other  hand,  according  to  the  Protestant  doctrine, 
Christ  casts  on  the  believer  His  shadow  only,  under 
which  his  continued  sinfulness  is  merely  not  observed  by 
God. 

There  is  in  this  view  no  real  change ;  the  sinner  re- 
mains truly  a  sinner  unto  death.  Only  in  some  extra- 
ordinary way,  the  Omniscient  is  deceived,  and  regards 
the  sinner,  whose  heart  is  unchanged,  as  if  he  were  a 
saint.  Faith,  according  to  them,  constitutes  the  only 
decisive  distinction  between  sinners  in  the  eyes  of  God. 
When  the  sinner  believes,  and  as  long  as  he  believes  that 
the  merits  of  Christ  are  imputed  to  him,  he  is  at  once 
all  holy. 

There  is  therefore,  in  this  view,  no  essential  difference 
between  the  converted  and  the  unconverted ;  the  same 
moral  being  remains ;  and  the  effects  of  penance,  restitu- 
tion, avoidance  of  the  occasion  of  sin,  unfeigned  humility 
are  all  self-delusion. 

This  of  course  explains  how  in  a  moment,  the  greatest 
reprobate  becomes  a  saint,  and  may  show  off,  before 
admiring  crowds,  the  bright  garment  which  hides  all  his 
iniquity.  It  is  almost  amusing,  if  the  subject  were  not 
in  itself  so  serious,  to  note  how  far  even  the  most  dis- 
tinguished among  the  so-called  Eeformers,  pushed  this 
point.  Melancthon,  wishing  to  prove  that  a  Saint  Francis, 
or  some  other  of  the  most  exalted  servants  of  God  is  not 


JUSTIFICATTOI^    AISTD   SATTCTITY.  237 

in  reality  boly,  triumphantly  puts  the  question — "  Do 
not  they  all  seek  their  own  interest  ?"  As  if  there  were 
no  meaning  in  the  words  of  the  Apostle,  that  "  Charity" — 
the  chief  test  of  true  sanctity — "  seeketh  not  her  own ;" 
and  that  a  perfect  follower  of  Our  Divine  Lord,  always 
seeks  his  own  interest,  and  not  the  glory  of  his  Divine 
Master ! 

Men  of  this  school  see  nothing  but  sin  in  concupiscence. 
But  if  concupiscence  be  bravely  resisted,  where  is  the  sin  ? 
And,  if  it  be  successful  in  its  assaults,  what  becomes  of 
the  saint  ?  It  must  never  be  forgotten  by  the  Infidels 
who  assail  the  Catholic  doctrine  on  this  point,  and  fancy 
that  we  Catholics  are  no  better  than  those  who  believe  in 
instantaneous  sanctification,  that  the  Catholic  Church, 
above  aU  things,  insists  on  a  radical  internal  change. 
Here,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Moehler,  is  the  essential 
difference,  so  clear  and  distinct,  that  it  cannot  possibly 
be  mistaken.  When  the  Protestant  believes  that  the 
merits  of  Christ  are  imputed  to  him,  "  at  this  point  of 
his  spiritual  life,  he  can  calmly  sit  down,  and  without 
advancing  a  step  farther,  be  assured  of  eternal  felicity, — 
while  the  Catholic  can  obtain  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins, 
only  when  he  abandons  them." 

I  would  not  care  to  be  obliged  to  defend  the  Protestant 
position  against  the  assaults  of  unbelief ;  for  however 
potently,  if  I  were  a  Protestant,  I  might  urge  abstract 
principles,  and  attempt  to  overwhelm  my  opponents  with 
scholastic  reasoning,  founded  on  the  effects  of  original 
sin,  I  should  feel  at  once,  that  the  reasoning  of  common- 
sense  was  decidedly  against  me,  in  attempting  to  main- 
tain that  a  reprobate  might  become  a  saint,  without  a  real 
change  of  heart  and  a  complete  reformation.  I  might  as 
well  hope  to  convince  a  sober-minded  reasoner  of  the  ex- 


238  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY, 

istence  of  siicli  a  phenomenon  in  the  moral  world,  as  a 
flying  ox  or  a  conscientious  parrot. 

The  chief  cause  of  this  great  difference  between  Catho- 
lics and  Protestants,  may  be  traced  to  the  erroneous 
notions  of  the  latter  concerning  original  sin  and  its  con- 
sequences. According  to  them,  the  ravages  of  the  sin 
of  our  first  parents  are  so  frightful  in  their  posterity, 
that  they  cannot  be  cured  even  in  the  regenerated.  In- 
stead of  holding  the  belief  of  the  Catholic  Church,  that 
the  inclination  of  the  will  to  evil,  left  in  us  by  the  dis- 
turbing influence  of  the  primeval  act  of  disobedience,  is 
not  sin,  except  where  this  inclination  or  solicitation  is 
entertained  with  full  consciousness,  and  consented  to  by 
the  will,  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  assert,  that  this 
solicitation,  even  when  resisted,  is  in  itself  sinful. 

This  appears  so  monstrous  to  unbelievers,  that  if  with 
IngersoU,  they  do  not  cry  out  against  "the  infamy  of  the 
Atonement,"  they  express  the  notion  of  the  injustice  in- 
volved in  this  inheritance  of  evil,  independent  of  in- 
dividual will,  in  the  strongest  terms.  "  The  visiting  on 
Adam's  descendants,"  says  Herbert  Spencer,  in  the  Jan- 
uary, 1884,  number  of  the  Nineteenth  Century^  "  through 
hundreds  of  generations,  dreadful  penalties  for  a  small 
transgression,  which  they  did  not  commit;  and  the 
effecting  a  reconciliation  by  sacrificing  a  son  who  was 
perfectly  innocent,  to  satisfy  the  assumed  necessity  for  a 
propitiatory  victim ;  are  modes  of  action,  which,  as- 
cribed to  a  human  ruler,  would  call  forth  expressions  of 
abhorrence." 

Strong  as  this  language  is,  it  seems  in  some  sort  justi- 
fied, if  real  Catholic  Christianity  maintains,  with  the  lead- 
ing Eef ormers,  that  personal  sinfulness  does  not  consist  in 
a  deliberate  perversion  of  the  will,  but  in  something  posi- 


JUSTIFICATION  AKD   SANCTITY.  239 

tively  evil  in  itself  outside  the  will,  that  is  transmitted. 
If  the  consequence  of  original  sin,  as  a  positive  evil,  be 
in  the  soul,  notwithstanding  the  determined  action  of  the 
will  in  resisting  it,  and  this  evil,  thus  sternly  combated 
by  the  will  of  the  individual,  exposes  him  to  certain 
damnation,  then  we  must  say,  that  he  is  condemned  with- 
out just  cause  ;  and  that  he  is  lost,  not  through  his  own 
fault,  but  by  a  fatal  necessity. 

But  Catholic  Christianity  has  never  imagined,  or  taught 
anything  of  this  kind.  ♦  The  doctrine  of  the  Church  on 
original  sin  is  simply  this.  Adam  by  his  sin  lost  the 
supernatural  gifts  of  holiness  and  original  justice,  which 
God,  in  pure  gratuitous  mercy,  had  bestowed  upon  him 
for  transmission  to  his  posterity. 

In  other  words,  the  father  of  the  human  race,  by  his 
sin  of  disobedience,  rejected  that  original  justice,  which 
involved  privileges  of  the  highest  order,  to  which  he  had 
no  natural  claim :  and  we,  as  members  of  the  human 
family,  of  which  he  was  the  head,  bear  the  consequences 
of  that  rejection.  We  are  not  implicated  in  his  personal 
sin,  in  his  ambition,  pride,  and  disobedience  ;  but  we  are 
implicated  in  that  special  guilt  of  his  sin,  in  which  he 
could,  and  did  act  as  head  of  the  human  family.  He  sin- 
fully rejected  the  supernatural  gifts,  to  which  his  nature 
had  no  claim  :  and  we,  as  united  to  him,  have  shared  in 
this  rejection  of  original  grace.  Original  sin  in  us  does 
not  simply  mean  the  loss  of  what  was  so  precious,  but  it 
means  self -rejection  of  these  gifts,  in  as  much  as  this  rejec- 
tion was  willed  by  our  human  nature  in  Adam,  with  the 
will  of  Adam.  It  is  not  a  personal  sin,  for  our  personal 
will  had  no  part  in  it ;  it  is  the  sin  of  our  nature,  as  our 
nature  is  one  with  that  of  Adam.  It  is  a  necessary  con- 
sequence of  the  sinful  breaking  of  the  supernatural  order 


240  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

established  by  God,  in  wbicb  sin  we  sbare,  inasmuch  as 
we  form  one  moral  body,  that  is  one  family  with  him. 

Of  course  no  illustration  can  make  clear  a  mystery,  and 
this  transmission  of  original  sin  is  one  of  these  incompre- 
hensible truths,  which  form  the  entirety  of  our  heaven- 
born  and  mysterious  Rehgion.  But,  to  a  certain  extent, 
it  may  be  illustrated  thus.  A  subject  of  a  great  monarch 
finds  favor  in  the  eyes  of  his  master,  and  is  in  conse- 
quence raised  to  a  Lordship  and  privileges  of  the  highest 
rank.  Had  he  persevered  in  his  fidelity,  he  would  have 
transmitted  these  honors  to  his  children.  But  he  re- 
belled, and  they,  disinherited  like  himself,  bore  the  con- 
sequences of  his  guilt.  The  illustration  fails  however, 
because  under  original  sin,  the  children  of  Adam  share, 
not  only  in  his  misfortune,  but  his  guilt.  That  guilt  con- 
sists in  this,  that  they  have  lost  favor  in  the  eyes  of  God. 
He  loves  them,  it  is  true,  as  His  intelligent  creatures, 
made  to  His  image  :  but  He  does  not  love  them  as  beings 
worthy  of  His  gratuitous  love  and  supernatural  blessed- 
ness ;  for  they  have  lost  in  losing  original  justice,  the 
likeness  to  Him,  in  which  their  nature  was  created. 

It  is  not  true  to  say,  with  Spencer  and  his  school,  that 
God  imputes  to  us  the  personal  sin  of  another ;  it  is 
rather  the  effect  of  this  sin,  the  wilful  rejection,  made 
by  human  nature,  in  its  representative,  of  original  justice 
and  its  glorious  privileges.  There  is  no  injustice  here  ; 
men  do  not  lose  anything  which  their  nature  requires. 
As  Dr.  Moehler  says,  "  What  nature  without  supernatural 
grace,  would  have  been,  it  is  now,  in  consequence  of  the 
self-incurred  loss  of  that  Divine  light." 

The  great  difficulty,  in  the  whole  question,  is  this,  to 
explain  how  the  wound  inflicted  on  human  nature,  has 
reached  the  immortal  spirit :  how  the  souls  of  each  of  us, 


JUSTIFICATION   AND   SANCTITY.  241 

created  bj  God,  at  their  union  with  the  germ  of  the  body 
transmitted  by  nature,  feel  the  noble  faculty  of  the  will 
weakened  and  perverted.  This  is  of  Catholic  and  Divine 
Faith,  for  the  Council  of  Trent  has  declared,  under  the 
infallible  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  by  original 
Ein  and  its  transmission,  the  w411  of  every  human  being 
is  weakened,  and  inclined  to  evil  "  viribus  attenuatum  et 
indinatum)^  (Concil.  Trid.,  sess.  vi.  cap.  v.).  But  the 
same  council  has  also  defined  it,  as  a  dogma  of  Faith,  that 
Free-will  is  by  no  means  extinguished  in  us — "  liberum 
arhitrium  minime  extinctumP  Hence  it  follows,  that 
although  w^e  cannot,  without  the  grace,  communicated  to 
us  through  Jesus  Christ,  produce  any  act  in  itself,  and  by 
itself  acceptable  to  God,  and  anywise  perfect,  every  moral 
act  of  ours  is  not  necessarily  sinful. 

This  doctrine  differs  toto  coelo  from  the  notions  of  the 
Reformers,  that  a  positive  evil  power,  independent  of  our 
will,  has  been  transmitted  to  us,  and  that  a  fallen  man  is 
all  evil. 

There  is  something  good  in  human  nature,  no  matter 
how  fallen,  corrupted  even  by  actual  and  personal  sin : 
and  there  is  nothing,  in  Catholic  doctrine,  which  does  not 
cheer  and  encourage  every  benevolent  and  noble-minded 
Christian,  who,  through  many  self-sacrifices,  devotes  his 
best  energies  to  find  out  the  latent  spark  of  natural  good- 
ness, and  to  endeavor,  by  kind  words  and  generous  deeds 
to  fan  it  into  vigorous  activity. 

Those  who,  like  Ingersoll  and  Spencer,  seek  to  drag 
down  the  justice  of  God  as  shown  in  Catholic  teaching, 
below  the  level  of  that  which  is  human,  only  exhibit,  in 
their  showy  theories,  the  littleness  and  short-sightedness 
of  even  great  minds,  when  they  attempt,  without  the  aid 
of  revealed  Eeligion,  to  speculate  on  the  infinite  attri- 


242  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY, 

butes  of  God.  The  great  being  "  who  has  made  all  things 
well,"  is  the  Master  of  His  own  gifts  ;  so  that  not  even 
His  goodness,  not  to  speak  of  His  justice,  can  be  im- 
pugned ;  since  the  gifts  He  confided  to  the  keeping  of 
Free-will  enlightened  by  Grace,  were  infinitely  beyond 
what  human  nature  at  its  best,  could  have  ever  merited. 
How  completely  ignorant  are  they  of  the  loving  con- 
descension of  our  Divine  Saviour,  who  see  in  His  self- 
imposed  sacrifice  for  our  sakes,  and  Infinite  pity  for  a 
fallen  race,  nothing  but  an  "  infamy,"  and  consequences 
abhorrent  to  our  natural  ideas  of  justice !  Yerily  the  poor 
ignorant  Catholic,  who  cannot  read,  but  has  learned  to 
say  his  beads,  while  thinking  over  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  his  Saviour,  and  has  thereby  trained  himself  to 
bear  poverty  and  afflictions  of  every  kind,  not  only  with 
patience,  but  with  joy  for  Christ's  sake,  is  before  God 
and  His  angels,  far  higher  in  the  scale  of  humanity,  than 
the  proud  philosopher,  who  exclaims  against  the  folly  of 
the  Divine  appointments.  Those  Christians  who  will  not 
hear  the  Church,  and  are  doomed  to  follow  the  first  rebels 
to  her  authority,  through  all  the  weary  mazes  of  error, 
and  doubt,  and  inconsistency,  have  inherited  something 
far  worse,  in  its  personal  effects,  than  Original  sin  :  for 
their  obstinacy  in  clinging  to  these  wearying  by-roads 
and  circuitous  paths,  and  so  wasting  their  lives  in  wander- 
ing round  and  round  in  endless  perplexity,  deprives  them 
of  anything  like  real  Faith  and  peace  of  mind.  It  may 
be  a  sort  of  diversion  to  them,  when  they  have  abandoned 
the  narrow  way  that  leads  to  life,  with  its  modes  of  wor- 
ship adapted  to  our  needs,  and  its  sacraments,  like  so 
many  refreshing  fountains,  and  its  "  Bread  of  life"  to  sus- 
tain them,  to  forget  for  a  moment  their  anxieties  in  ex- 
hilarating sentimentahsm  and  emotional  fervor. 


JUSTIPICATIOIT   AND   SANCTITY.  243 

But  if  they  prefer  these  enjoyments  of  mistaken  piety, 
to  the  path  trod  by  our  Divine  Lord  Himself,  because  it 
is  steep  and  arduous,  rough  and  thorny,  and  irritating  to 
human  pride  and  sensuality,  in  the  very  simplicity  of  its 
refreshments,  and  its  occasional  austerities,  they  may  hear 
one  day  the  saddening  words, — "  Amen  I  say  to  you,  you 
have  received  your  reward  "  (Matt.  vi.  2).  Yes,  they  may 
well  imagine  it  said  to  them:  you  experienced  much 
satisfaction  in  your  own  ways  of  devotion;  you  were 
raised  above  the  earth,  when  certain  chords  of  feeling 
were  touched  that  gratified  self-love;  in  the  delightful 
fervor,  that  thrilled  sensibly  through  your  whole  being, 
as  you  joined  in  the  gushing  prayer,  you  felt  the  touch 
of  the  spirit  that  pleased  you  with  its  whisperings  of 
false  peace.  But  in  all  this  "  you  have  not  walked  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  God  "  (Wisdom  vi.  5).  In  these  ex- 
ercises of  seeming  piety,  as  in  the  fasts  of  the  Jewish 
people,  "  your  own  will  is  found  "  (Isaias  Iviii.  3).  There 
was  another  way — "  the  holy  way" — a  straight  way  so 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  humanity,  that  "  fools  could  not 
err  therein"  (Isaias  xxxv.  8) ;  but  this  you  abandoned  to 
please  your  own  caprice,  "therefore  you  have  erred." 
Ko  doubt  it  does  seem  more  delightful,  "  nicer"  to  use  a 
common  expression,  to  certain  individuals  of  the  senti- 
mental class,  to  revel  in  various  forms  of  new-fangled 
piety,  than  to  adhere  to  the  ways  sanctioned  by  the  prac- 
tice of  primitive  Christianity. 

There  is,  beyond  question,  a  more  highly  spiced  charm 
in  listening  to  one's  self,  or  dear  friends,  pouring  out  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  passionate  excitement,  than  join- 
ing with  the  poor  round  the  altar  or  kneeling  humbly  and 
alone  at  the  tribunal  of  penance.  But  the  great  question 
is  what  is  the  form  of  worship  with  which  God  is  pleased. 


244  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY, 

These  considerations  however  will  probably  have  less 
effect  than  mere  human  considerations,  on  the  admirers 
of  emotional  Christianity.  If  they  heard  what  calm  and 
sensible  men  think  and  say  of  extempore  prayer,  and  its 
accompaniments,  their  intense  admiration  for  these  spir- 
itual enjoyments  might  be  rudely  chilled. 

I  have  heard  it  said  myself,  and  from  my  knowledge 
and  experience  of  human  nature,  I  believe  there  is  a  deal 
of  sound  truth  in  the  observation, — "  These  people,  who 
are  ready  at  any  moment  to  engage  in  public  extempore 
prayer,  must  be  rarely  gifted,  if  this  exuberance  of  gush- 
ing piety  is  real ;  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  only 
acting,  they  must  be  the  most  consummate  hypocrites." 

I  know  that  it  is  hard  at  all  times  to  'B.x  the  thoughts 
on  God.  As  Father  Faber  says,  "  Often  when  we  place 
ourselves  in  the  Divine  presence,  and  try  to  pray  with 
attention  and  devotion,  it  seems  as  if  a  fountain  of  dis- 
tracting thoughts  began  to  play  in  the  centre  of  our 
being."  Those  who  disdain  to  use  prayers  carefully  pre- 
pared in  humble  and  respectful  language,  and  sauctioned 
by  long  and  general  use,  must  often  commit  themselves, 
under  the  influence  of  excitement,  to  words  that  are 
hardly  wise.  It  is  to  be  feared  too,  that  in  "  wrestling 
with  the  Spirit  of  God  "  they  may  betray  a  boldness  and 
irreverence,  which  they  would  not  dare  to  use  in  address- 
ing an  equal  or  a  superior  among  their  fellow-men.  And 
suppose  the  feelings  of  fervor  and  the  unction  will  not 
come  at  the  precise  moment  that  they  are  wanted,  must 
they  be  worked  up  for  the  occasion  ?  With  what  a  sense  of 
unreality  does  not  the  bare  thought  of  such  acting  affect 
our  judgment  of  the  pious  practices  of  those,  who  are 
supposed  to  be  superior  "  to  the  rest  of  men,"  in  the 
earnestness  of  their  devotions!     "Sing  praises  to  our 


JUSTIFICATION   AND   SANCTITY.  245 

God," — says  the  fervent  Psalmist,  but  lie  adds — "  Sing 
ye  wisely." 

I  have  touched  on  this  matter,  because  in  pointing  out 
the  dijfference  between  Catholic  Christianity  and  the  Re- 
ligion of  sentimental  emotion,  I  thought  it  necessary  to 
indicate  a  remarkable  feature  in  the  latter,  which  is  ab- 
horrent to  Catholic  piety.  If  unbelievers  are  tempted  to 
use  very  strong  words,  in  their  denunciation  of  the  lan- 
guage used  at  Camp-meetings,  and  Revivals,  and  public 
prayer-meetings ;  and  not  from  what  they  believe  them- 
selves about  our  Divine  Lord,  but  from  what  they  know 
of  Christian  belief  in  His  Divinity,  express  their  horror 
at  what  Dickens  has  called  "  the  most  impious  and  awful 
familiarity"  of  those,  who  often  rant  on  these  occasions, 
they  should  not  charge  the  Catholic  Church  with  these 
excesses. 

While  Catholics  respect  the  motives  and  intentions  of 
those  who  piously  join  in  this  kind  of  popular  devotion, 
they  are  grieved  and  pained  at  the  mockery,  and  ridicule, 
and  contempt,  which  exhibitions  of  this  sort  excite  in  the 
minds  of  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  religion,  for  every 
worship  that  bears  the  name  of  Christian. 

In  the  next  chapter,  I  will  say  something  about  the 
gloominess  and  misery  supposed  by  unbelievers  to  be  in- 
timately and  necessarily  connected  with  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity. . 


246  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    UNTINGED   BY   THE 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

Catholic  Christianity  Untinged  by  the  Gloom   of 
Predestination. 

ONE  of  the  most  common  arguments  of  Infidels 
against  revealed  Religion  is  that  it  casts  a  gloom 
over  the  innocent  enjoyments  of  the  present  life;  and 
discourages  men  from  the  discharge  of  the  duties  which 
they  owe  to  society.  "  If,"  they  say,  "  happiness  in  a 
future  state  is  '  the  one  thing  necessary,'  and  this  happi- 
ness is  to  be  secured  only  by  self-denial,  and  making  our- 
selves miserable,  what  interest  can  a  thorough  believer 
take  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  ?  And,  as  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain, that  men  are  irresistibly  impelled  by  their  reason, 
and  the  noblest  and  most  elevating  feelings  of  human 
nature,  to  seek  their  own  happiness,  and  promote  that  of 
their  fellows,  whatever  opposes  these  principles  is  evi- 
dently beneath  the  notice  of  cultured  humanity." 

In  this  respect.  Catholic  Christianity  is  the  chief  object 
of  attack.  Other  Christian  systems  establish  a  friendly 
alhance  with  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  the  world.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  most  rigid  forms  of  Protestantism,  that 
hinders  one  from  seeking  wealth,  and  honor,  and  the 
prizes  set  before  us,  in  the  beautiful  dwelling  where  we 
find  ourselves.  Whereas  "  the  strict  CathoHc,"  they  say, 
"  is  impelled,  by  the  rule  of  his  Church,  to  fast  and  pray, 
and  wear  himself  out  in  acts  of  penance  and  mortifica- 
tion ;  and,  if  he  happens  to  have  a  fair  share  of  the  good 
things  of  this  world,  he  is  bound  to  sacrifice  them  to  the 


GLOOM   OF  PREDESTINATION.  247 

objects  of  doubtful  charity,  wliicb  surround  him  on  every 
side."  And,  pressing  the  argument  to  its  extreme  point, 
they  urge — "  Look  at  Catholics  who  aim  at  what  they 
foolishly  call  the  perfect  life,  and  you  will  find  that, 
wherever  they  find  it  possible,  they  shut  themselves  up 
in  Keligious  houses,  and  pass  their  days  in  wretched 
silence  and  seclusion,  wear  poor  clothes,  use  the  plainest 
food,  and  submit  to  the  drudgery  of  a  Rule,  that  must, 
after  a  time,  become  intolerable,  in  the  strictness  of  its 
minute  observances.  "What  fools  these  Catholics  must 
be,  who  allow  themselves  to  labor  under  such  stupid  de- 
lusions !" 

I  remember  once,  when  I  was  a  boy,  hearing  of  an 
English  Protestant  traveller  in  Ireland,  who  was  strong 
in  these  views,  and  who  fairly  nonplussed  the  poor  driver 
of  the  jaunting-car,  by  his  stern  dogmatism  on  the  Re- 
ligious life.  They  were  passing  a  celebrated  Carthusian 
monastery,  and  the  driver,  hoping  to  entertain,  and  per- 
haps edify  his  rather  taciturn  "  fare,"  began  to  detail  to 
him  the  privations  and  austerities  of  the  monks — "  They 
are  wonderful  people,  sir ;  they  rise  at  midnight  to  sing 
their  prayers." — "  More  fools  they." — "  They  never  touch 
meat." — "  More  fools  they." — "  They  fast  two  Lents  in 
the  year." — "  More  fools  they."  And  so  it  went  on,  till 
the  driver,  at  last,  aggravated  beyond  measure,  by  what 
he  considered  the  want  of  religion  of  the  other,  exclaimed 
— "  ^hy  then,  sir,  do  you  mean  to  go  to  Heaven  at  all  ?" 
"  Yes,  my  good  fellow,  certainly,"  replied  the  other,  "but 
not  by  making  myself  a  ridiculous  fool."  I  could  not 
help  thinking  even  then,  that  it  was  no  sign  of  folly,  to 
renounce  all  things  and  to  follow  Christ  for  the  sake  of 
Heaven.  I  have  long  ago  learned,  as  a  truth  beyond 
doubt,  that  they  are  the  wisest  and  best  of  the  human 


248   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    UNTINGED   BY   THE 

family,  "to  whom  it  is  given"  to  correspond  with  the 
grace  of  a  Divine  vocation. 

It  does  not  follow  that,  because  there  are  many  who 
heed  the  Divine  call  addressed  to  the  young  man  who  had 
large  possessions, — "  leave  all  and  follow  me,"  and  who 
thus  enter  on  the  rough  and  narrow  way  of  perfection, 
that  this  mode  of  life  is  set  before  the  great  body  of 
earnest  and  thoughtful  Catholics. 

I  have  already  pointed  out,  in  the  fifth  chapter,  what 
is  meant  by  a  vocation  to  the  perfect  life,  how  rare  it  is, 
and  how  severely  it  is  tested.  This  at  once  cuts  away  the 
very  root  of  that  fallacy,  so  constantly  urged  by  the  lead- 
ers of  "  progress,"  that,  if  the  Catholic  religion  had  its 
full  way,  this  fair  world  would  soon  be  changed  into  a 
gloomy  waste,  and  that  the  human  race  would  perish. 

But  let  it  be  observed.  Marriage  is  "a  great  sacra- 
ment," honored  by  Christ's  first  miracle,  and  a  figure  of 
the  admirable  union  that  exists  between  our  Divine 
Lord  and  His  mystic  spouse,  the  Church.  The  great 
majority  of  Catholic  Christians — a  majority  so  immeas- 
urably beyond  the  number  of  those  who  are  called  to 
the  higher  life,  that  the  latter,  though  a  numerous  class, 
is  scarcely  perceptible  in  the  multitude  of  believers — 
the  many,  can  not  only  save  their  souls  by  gratifying 
a  taste  for  wide  intercourse  by  living  in  society,  and 
mixing  in  the  busy  pursuits  of  the  world;  but  they 
could  not,  in  the  ordinary  ways  of  Providence,  be  saved 
at  all,  unless  they  followed  the  bent  of  this  inclina- 
tion. Yery  many  who  have  lived  happily  in  the  married 
state,  brought  up  children  in  the  fear  and  love  of  God, 
are  now,  according  to  the  belief  of  the  Church,  brightly 
conspicuous  in  the  mighty  host  of  the  white-robed,  who 
enjoy  the  beatific  vision.     Every  treasure  born  of  them, 


GLOOM   OF   PREDESTINATION.  249 

which  they  have  carefully  preserved  in  innocence  and 
purity,  or  which,  like  the  mother  of  St.  Augustine,  they 
have,  by  their  prayers  and  good  example,  rescued  from 
the  fangs  of  the  wicked  serpent,  is  another  fair  gem  in 
their  crown  of  everlasting  glory.  God  often  blesses  them 
here  below  with  happiness,  far  beyond  the  luxurious 
dreams  of  pleasure,  which  mock  the  desires  of  the  un- 
godly ;  and  fills  their  souls  with  comfort,  in  proportion 
to  their  fidelity  in  dispensing  His  bounty,  a  comfort 
which  is  altogether  unknown  to  the  weary  pursuers  of 
sensuous  gratification. 

What  folly  it  is  for  worldly-minded  men  and  women, 
the  wretched  slaves  of  ever-changing  fashions,  and 
tyrannous  obligations  of  human  respect,  to  sneer  at  the 
delights  of  generous,  and  unaffected,  and  simple-minded 
virtue !  What  do  they  know  of  the  pure  and  unadul- 
terated and  ever  fresh  enjoyments  of  self-sacrifice,  who 
shrink  with  terror  from  every  work  of  charity  that 
necessitates  discomfort,  and  scatters  their  largesses,  not 
for  God's  sake,  but  to  ward  off  vexatious  importunity,  or 
to  gratify  the  suggestions  of  ever-craving  pride?  If 
they  could  only  for  a  moment  pierce,  with  steady  glance, 
the  mists  of  prejudice,  and  obtain  one  view  of  that  joy, 
which  a  merciful  God  often  bestows,  even  in  this  life,  on 
those  who  love  Him  above  all  things,  and  their  neighbor 
for  His  sake,  they  would  be  impelled  to  tear  from  their 
brows  the  fading  flowers  of  earthly  pleasure,  and  trample 
in  the  dust  those  perishable  nothings,  for  which  they 
have  bartered  their  eternal  welfare. 

When  pious  Catholics,  who  have  learned  betimes  to 
walk  with  God,  either  in  the  Eeligious  state,  or  abroad 
among  men,  are  faithful  to  the  graces  so  lavishly  be- 
stowed upon  them,  they  realize  something  of  that  pure 


250   CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   UNTINGED   BY   THE 

happiness,  which  must  have  flooded  the  souls  of  our  first 
parents,  when  they  heard  the  voice  of  God  speaking 
gently  to  them  "  in  the  paradise  of  pleasure." 

But  these  things  are  foolishness  to  those  who  have 
blunted  their  appetites  on  the  gross  things  of  earth,  and 
are  filled  and  surfeited  with  this  unwholesome  food. 
They  do  not  understand  the  ways  of  God,  and  it  is 
therefore  useless  to  dwell  further  on  this  point  in  at- 
tempting to  reason  with  them.  I  will  only  say  that  there 
is  no  place  in  this  weary  world  more  like  Heaven,  than 
those  happy  homes,  where  God,  and  all  that  concerns  His 
service,  honor,  and  glory,  are  the  main  objects  of  daily 
life.  "  Be  not  solicitous,"  says  our  Divine  Lord,  "  about 
what  you  shall  eat  or  drink,  or  wherewith  shall  you  be 
clothed.  For  after  all  these  do  the  heathens  seek.  Seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  justice,  and  all  these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you"  (Matt.  vi.  31-33). 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  imagine  that  they  who  set  their 
hearts  on  "  the  one  thing  necessary,"  and  "  place  their 
treasure  in  heaven,"  are  thereby  unfitted  to  attend  to 
their  duties  in  society.  Every  state  has  its  fixed  duties. 
Those  of  the  professional  man,  of  the  merchant,  of  the 
landed  proprietor,  and  of  the  laborer, — of  the  poor  as  well 
as  the  rich,  are  clearly  laid  down  in  our  books  of  instruc- 
tion, and  form  the  subject  of  continual  sermons. 

Idleness  has  ever  been  regarded  as  a  crime  in  the 
Church  of  God.  All  Catholics  must  labor  diligently  to 
fit  themselves,  to  the  best  of  their  abilities,  for  the  faith- 
ful discharge  of  their  several  employments.  It  was 
always  a  maxim,  even  amongst  the  Contemplative  Re- 
ligious orders,  that "  he  who  works,  prays."  It  is  only 
solicitude,  over-anxiety,  heathenish  forgetfulness  of  God 
and  His  Providence,  that  is  condemned.     If  men  will 


GLOOM   OF  PREDESTINATION.  251 

neglect  God,  and  trust  entirely  in  the  power  of  their  own 
hands,  and  never  ask  His  blessing  on  their  labors,  who 
alone  can  give  the  increase,  they  are,  according  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  real  "fools,"  who 
despise  "the  one  thing  necessary,"  and  are  entirely 
taken  up  with  those  worthless  trifles,  that  must  soon  be 
abandoned  forever.  There  is  no  such  thing,  in  Catholic 
teaching  or  practice,  as  sitting  down  on  the  road  that 
leads  to  heaven,  and  abandoning  one's  self  to  blind  fate 
and  the  gloomy  horrors  of  Predestination. 

The  Catholic  who  would  say  to  himself  "  Either  I  am 
one  of  the  Elect,  or  of  the  Eeprobate  ;  God  who  knows 
all  things  knows  with  absolute  certainty  whether  I  shall 
be  saved  or  lost,  and  therefore  it  is  useless  for  me  to 
trouble  myself  about  doing  good  or  avoiding  evil,"  would, 
he  fully  understands,  be  acting  as  foolishly  as  the  fanatic 
Turk,  or  the  man  perishing  with  hunger,  who  would  not 
stretch  forth  his  hand  to  take  the  food  that  lay  within  his 
reach.  "  Allah  sees  my  fate,"  says  the  blind  zealot,  who 
rushes  madly  upon  the  bayonet  of  his  adversary :  "  God 
must  feed  me  or  I  die,"  may  say  indeed,  according  to 
the  principles  of  his  creed,  many  a  misguided  Christian ; 
but  the  least  instructed  Catholic  cannot  entertain,  for  an 
instant,  the  thought  of  so  great  an  absurdity.  He  has 
been  taught,  it  is  true,  that  "whether  he  eats  or  drinks, 
or  whatever  else  he  does,  he  must  do  all  things  for  the 
glory  of  God  "  (1  Cor.  x.  31) ;  but  while  he  thus  put? 
himself  in  the  way  of  receiving  the  Divine  blessing,  on 
even  the  most  ordinary  of  his  actions,  he  must  attend  to 
what  he  is  about ;  and  use  his  best  efforts  to  be  a  faith- 
ful servant.  "He  who  soweth  in  blessings,  shall  also 
reap  of  blessings"  (2.  Cor.  ix.  6).  And  therefore  he  is 
bound  to  do  the  work  before  him,  "  not  with  saduess,  or 


252   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    UNTINGED   BY   THE 

of  necessity,"  like  those  who  have  no  hope  in  a  kind  and 
ever- watchful  Providence ;  but  cheerfully,  because  he  is 
assured  that  the  duty,  be  it  ever  so  difficult,  and  sur- 
rounded with  vexatious  trials,  has  been  appointed  for 
him  by  one,  who  loves  the  cheerful  giver  and  the  con- 
tented mind,  and  who  has  chosen,  by  this  path,  to  lead 
him  to  his  eternal  rest. 

I  never  yet  knew  a  pious  Catholic  who  was  not,  as 
a  rule,  bright  and  cheery.  The  expression,  so  familiar 
to  all  Catholics,  ignorant  as  well  as  learned — "  It  is  the 
will  of  God  "  is  never  associated  with  gloomy  thoughts. 
On  the  contrary,  this  outburst  of  consoling  Faith  and 
Hope,  which  springing  from  the  heart,  finds  utterance 
on  the  faltering  tongue,  lightens  the  load  that  presses 
heavy  upon  us  at  times. 

God  be  praised !  in  long-suffering  and  afflicted  Ireland, 
the  Faith  of  which  the  words  "  Blessed  be  the  Holy  will 
of  God "  is  the  natural  outcome,  is  too  deeply  fixed,  by 
pious  mothers  in  the  hearts  of  their  children,  ever  to  be 
eradicated.  Nay  rather,  it  seems  to  sink  deeper  with  every 
blow  to  long-cherished  hopes,  till  it  has  grown  into  the 
very  instincts  of  the  people.  We  Irish  are  never  gloomy ; 
and  we  have  to  thank  Faith,  as  well  as  natural  tempera- 
ment, for  so  great  a  blessing.  Our  priests  and  Religious, 
when  the  hard  work  of  the  Confessional,  or  ministering  to 
the  sick,  or  the  works  of  mercy  in  the  school,  or  the 
homes  of  the  poor,  is  finished  for  the  day,  can  be  as 
joyous,  and  as  free  from  care  as  the  children  who  cried 
out,  in  the  presence  of  the  Saviour, — "  Hosannah  in  the 
highest." 

We  Catholics  know  nothing  practically  of  the  grim 
Calvinistic  piety,  which,  instead  of  finding  in  the  belief 


GLOOM   OF   PREDESTINATION.  253 

of  God's  Providence,  a  cheering  light  in  the  midst  of 
darkness  and  sorrow — 

"  Like  moonlight  on  a  troubled  sea 
Brightening  the  storm  it  cannot  calm" 

invites  rather  in  the  soul  of  the  puritan  a  religious  gloom, 
like  the  dark  mist,  as  Homer  describes  it,  "  brooding  on 
the  abyss  and  hatching  the  tempest,"  of  rebellious  excite- 
ment and  passionate  resistance  to  the  Divine  appoint- 
ments. We  are  happily  ignorant,  as  well  in  doctrine,  as 
in  practice,  of  anything  like  dismal  forebodings  of  this 
kind.  This  hete  noire  of  sectarian  Christianity,  so  well 
depicted  by  Dickens  in  the  character  of  Mrs.  Clenham, — 
this  nightmare  of  Calvinism,  never  disturbs  even  our 
dreams. 

"  The  world,"  says  this  wretched  incarnation  of  ultra- 
puritanism,  shut  up  in  the  airless  room,  with  its  bier- 
like sofa,  and  other  funereal  details,  "  has  narrowed  to  these 
dimensions" — this  to  one  who  felt  he  was  her  only  son, 
and  who  had  just  returned  after  a  long  absence.  "  It  is 
well  for  me  that  I  never  set  heart  upon  its  hollow  vani- 
ties. I  know  nothing  of  summer  and  winter,  shut  up  here. 
The  Lord  has  been  pleased  to  put  me  beyond  all  that." 
"  Great  need,"  continues  the  clever  and  observant  writer, 
"  had  this  rigid  woman  of  her  mystical  religion,  veiled 
in  gloom  and  darkness,  with  lightnings  of  cursing,  ven- 
geance, and  destruction,  floating  through  the  sable  clouds. 
Forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our  debtors  was  a 
prayer  too  poor  in  spirit  for  her.  *  Smite  Thou  mj 
debtors,  Lord,  wither  them,  crush  them :  do  Thou,  as  I 
would  do,  and  Thou  shalt  have  my  worship ; '  this  was 
the  impious  tower  of  stone  she  built  up  to  scale  Heaven." 

Such  sentiments  actually  make  one's  blood  run  cold ; 


254   CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    UNTINGED   BY   THE 

and  I  am  sure  Catholics  must  marvel  whence  such  a  pic- 
ture of  mistaken  religion  could  possibly  be  drawn.  This 
keen  observer  of  the  stage  of  life  had  however  distinct 
visions  of  actors  like  Mrs.  Clenham.  They  grow,  by  a 
sort  of  necessity,  from  the  incubus  of  Predestination. 

Damned  for  all  eternity,  hopelessly  crushed  forever 
under  the  heel  of  pitiless  destiny,  is  the  stern  decree  which, 
creeping  out  of  the  dark  mists  of  error,  weighs  down  every 
joyous  impulse  in  the  soul  of  the  believer  in  such  mon- 
strous aberrations.  ^N'atural  religion,  if  it  has  done  much 
evil  to  Faith,  has  at  least  almost  banished  this  hideous 
phantom  from  any  practical  influence  over  the  affairs  of 
life.  Puritans  now,  exultingly  quote  the  words  com- 
monly attributed  to  their  pet-idol,  Cromwell,  and  sing, 
"  Put  your  trust  in  God,  my  boys  ;  but  keep  your  powder 
dry."  Still  the  principles  of  Calvin  are  so  intimately 
involved  in  the  belief,  that  Christ  died  only  for  the  elect, 
and  that  the  mass  of  humanity  are  foredoomed  to  eternal 
misery,,  despite  their  best  efforts,  that  it  is  no  wonder,  un- 
believers, deriving  their  knowledge  of  Christianity  only 
from  formulas,  and  confessions,  and  other  authentic  docu- 
ments, take  the  information  obtained  from  these  sources, 
as  the  firm  ground  of  their  worst  assaults  on  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

According  to  Calvin,  "  Predestination  is  that  eternal 
decree  of  God,  whereby  He  hath  determined  what  the 
fate  of  every  man  should  be.  For  not  to  the  same  destiny 
are  all  created  :  for  to  some  is  allotted  eternal  life ;  to 
others  eternal  damnation.  According  as  a  man  is  made 
for  one  end  or  the  other,  we  call  him  predestined  to  life 
or  death"  (Calvin  Instit,  lib.  iii.  c.  21,  n.  6,  p.  337). 
"  We  assert  that  by  an  eternal  and  unchangeable  decree, 
God  hath  determined  whom  He  shall  one  day  permit 


GLOOM   OF   PREDESTINATION.  255 

to  have  a  share  in  eternal  felicity,  and  whom  He  shall 
doom  to  destruction.  In  respect  to  the  elect,  this  decree 
is  founded  on  His  unmerited  mercy,  without  any  regard 
to  human  weakness ;  but  those  whom  He  delivers  up  to 
damnation,  are,  by  a  just  and  irreprehensible  judgment^ 
excluded  from  all  access  to  eternal  life"  (L.  C,  n.  7,  p. 
339). 

Is  it  any  wonder  that,  on  the  suppostion  that  this  ap- 
palling doctrine  is  that  of  the  Catholic  Church,  Infidels 
should  rave  against  Christianity,  and  that  IngersoU  and 
others  of  his  school,  should  have  expressed  their  hatred  of 
the  God  of  the  Bible? 

It  must  be  remembered,  in  connection  with  these  stern 
decrees,  that  he  who  propounded  them,  and  his  followers 
hold,  as  a  fixed  principle,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
free-will ;  and  consequently,  that  they  who  are  doomed 
by  the  eternal  and  inexorable  decree,  are  lost  forever, 
without  any  fault  that  can  in  justice  be  attributed  to  them. 

But  Calvin  went  farther  than  this,  and  maintained  that, 
though  Faith  is  a  gift  of  God's  mercy,  yet  believers  who 
are  lost,  are  condemned,  because  God  did  not  give  them 
a  real  Faith.  "He  insinuated  Himself  into  their  souls 
under  an  apparent  Faith,  that  He  might  render  them 
more  inexcusable"  (p.  195).  That  is  to  say,  he  charges 
the  Almighty  with  intentional  deceit,  that  He  may  gratify 
the  more  thoroughly  His  awful  vengeance. 

It  would  be  altogether  wonderful  that  a  doctrine  like 
this  could  have  perverted  the  sound  sense  of  Christians, 
did  we  not  know,  to  what  extremities  men  are  driven, 
when  they  will  not  hear  the  great  teacher,  whom  our  Di- 
vine Lord  has  left  to  guide  us  in  our  perplexities,  but  are 
obliged,  through  some  false  principle  or  other,  to  adopt 
new  and  strange  doctrines. 


256   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   UNTINGED   BY   THE 

Astute,  as  was  this  leader  of  error,  and  warily  on  his 
guard  to  keep  clear  of  the  monstrous  extremes  of  Luther, 
who  maintained  that  Free-will,  by  the  fall  of  man,  w^as 
utterly  destroyed,  he  is  yet  irresistibly  led  into  the  same 
abyss  of  blasphemy,  when  he  asserts,  that  the  faint  modi- 
cum of  co-operative  power  is  completely  overwhelmed 
by  the  invincible  action  of  Divine  grace.  "  When  Divine 
grace  knocks,  the  door  imist  be  opened :  it  works  quite 
invincibly^  and  those  who  enter  into  life,  are  never  so 
touched  by  it,  as  to  yield  voluntarily  to  its  suggestions : 
it  simply  never  touches  them,  but  saves  them  in  spite  of 
themselves." 

How  bright  and  clear  and  cheering  is  the  Catholic 
doctrine  compared  with  these  wretched  principles  of  de- 
spair, which  trample  out  of  the  heart  of  man,  the  bare  con- 
ception of  anything  like  hope !  According  to  the  Church, 
Divine  grace,  the  seed  of  any  merit  worthy  of  the  Divine 
acceptance,  is  indeed  unmerited  by  man  ;  but  it  is  freely 
offered,  through  the  merits  of  Christ,  to  all  men  without 
exception;  and  none  are  lost  but  those  who  freely  or 
wilfully  reject  this  redeeming  aid  (Concil.  Trident.,  sess. 
vi.  c.  2).  If  any  one  is  lost,  notwithstanding  the  means  of 
salvation  that  God  affords  to  every  one,  such  a  one  cannot 
justly  blame  God,  but  only  himself  and  his  sins.  Sin 
alone,  voluntary  sin,  sin  committed  wilfully  and  know- 
ingly in  the  light  of  God's  grace,  is  the  only  cause  of 
exclusion  from  Heaven.  1*^0  one  is  a  reprobate,  but  by 
his  own  most  grievous  fault.  According  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  the  goodness  of  God  precedes  any  hopeful  move- 
ment of  the  soul,  and  gives  to  it  a  first  grace,  a  purely 
gratuitous  and  unmerited  supernatural  impulse. 

This  is  called  an  actual  grace.  It  does  not  justify  the 
sinner ;  but  it  will  help  him  to  perform  good  works,  and 


GLOOM   OF  PREDESTINATION.  257 

obtain  further  grace.  He  may  reject  it  if  he  will ;  if  he 
does,  it  will  be  no  benefit  to  him.  If  he  turn  it  to  good 
account,  by  his  free  co-operation,  it  will  obtain  more 
grace,  and  dispose  him  to  obtain  the  free  gift  of  justifica- 
tion ;  and  by  co-operating  and  working  with  this,  rising 
from  virtue  to  virtue,  repairing  the  evil  effects  of  sin, 
avoiding  its  occasions,  and  the  like,  the  penitent  will  at 
last  arrive,  by  a  gradual  process,  to  sanctification,  and  life 
everlasting.  Here  all  is  hopeful ;  there  is  no  place  for 
desponding  gloom. 

The  sinner  who  is  moved  to  say,  like  the  publican, 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me,"  who,  like  the  prodigal,  feels 
weary  of  sin,  and  thinks  of  returning  to  the  kindest  and 
best  of  fathers,  or  like  the  man  who,  on  the  brink  of  an 
abyss,  is  warned  in  time  by  some  hairbreadth  escape, 
and  the  nearness  of  sorde  terrible  accident,  already  feels 
in  these  impulses,  the  voice  of  God  inviting  him  to  re- 
pentance. Let  him  only  freely  yield  to  the  impulse,  and 
he  has  already  made  the  first  step  towards  salvation. 

But  it  may  be  asked  is  there  not  in  the  Catholic  Church 
also  a  doctrine  of  Predestination  ?  Yes,  truly  there  is  of 
the  good  who  are  saved.  God  foresees  their  co-operation, 
and  final  perseverance,  and  because  it  is  His  grace  alone 
that  has  wrought  this  mercy,  because,  although  they 
could  have  resisted.  He  foresaw  that  they  would  not  re- 
sist, their  salvation  may  be  said  to  have  been  predestined ; 
for  God  not  only  foresaw  this  happiness  in  store  for 
them,  but  actually  effected  it  without  constraining  their 
liberty. 

But,  according  to  Catholic  theology,  God  cannot  be 
rightly  said  to  have  predestined  the  Keprobate.  He 
foresees  indeed  their  doom ;  but,  instead  of  effecting  it, 
He  does  everything,  consistent  with  the  free-will  of  the 


258   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    UNTINGED    BY   THE 

sinner,  to  avert  it.  He  cannot  be  said  therefore  to  will 
their  condemnation,  and,  by  willing,  to  bring  it  about, 
because  He  does  not  produce  their  evil  works;  on  the 
contrary  He  gives  them  every  help  to  avoid  prevarica- 
tions. If  they  are  lost,  they  are  lost  through  their  own 
fault,  and  not  by  virtue  of  God's  eternal  fore-knowledge 
and  predestination. 

It  may  easily  be  inferred,  from  this  explanation  of 
the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Predestination,  how  wide  of 
the  mark  are  all  the  shafts  directed  by  the  sneers,  and 
wit,  and  ridicule  of  unbelief  against  the  justice  and 
goodness  of  God,  as  represented  to  us  in  revealed  Re- 
ligion. Catholics  do  not  believe  that  any  soul  is  pre- 
destined to  be  lost,  or  that  God  causes  any  man  to  fall 
into  sin;  such  notions  we  condemn  as  impious  and 
blasphemous.  God  indeed  foresees  that  certain  men  will 
abuse  His  graces,  and  their  own  free-will.  He  cannot 
consistently,  with  man's  noble  gift  of  freedom,  force 
any  one  to  do  what  is  right ;  but  "  God  tempteth  no 
man"  (James  i.  13).  He  saves  those  whom  He  pleases ; 
and  those  who,  in  His  infinite  mercy,  are  saved,  must  at- 
tribute this  crowning  grace  to  His  gratuitous  goodness, 
more  than  to  any  merit  of  theirs.  But  condemnation  is 
a  punishment,  and  can  only  be  inflicted  on  one  who  is 
guilty;  and  therefore  it  cannot  be  said,  with  anything 
like  a  shadow  of  truth,  that  He  predestines  the  Reprobate 
to  Hell.  His  foreknowledge  has  no  influence  whatever 
on  their  free  choice.  The  unfortunate  wretch  who,  in 
the  misery  of  despair,  is  about  to  take  his  own  life,  knows 
well,  that  he  may,  if  he  pleases,  cast  away  from  him  the 
weapon  of  destruction,  and  not  seal  his  fate  forever  like 
the  unhappy  Judas.  "  God  will  render  to  every  one  ac- 
cording to  his  works"  (Rom.  ii.  6).     None  will  be  lost 


GLOOM    OF   PREDESTINATION.  259 

but  the  wicked ;  and  the  wicked  may,  even  "  at  the  elev- 
enth hour,"  repair  the  follies  and  idleness  and  utter 
worthlessness  of  a  life  of  sin,  by  turning  with  all  their 
heart  to  Him  who  is  not  willing  ''  that  any  should  perish," 
but  desires  that  all  should  return  to  penance  (2  Pet.  iii. 

9)- 

Here,  as  I  have  said,  there  is  no  place  for  gloom  or 
despair ;  and  the  unfortunate  Catholic,  who  would  aban- 
don hope,  and  consider  himself  predestined  to  eternal 
misery,  must  close  his  eyes  to  the  light  of  truth,  and  be 
guilty  of  that  terrible  sin,  which  is  but  the  coping-stone 
of  his  tower  of  iniquity,  and  invites  the  Divine  wrath  to 
burst  upon  it,  like  the  dread  lightning, — the  sin  against 
Hope,  or  distrust  in  the  mercy  of  God,  the  greatest  of 
all  the  Divine  attributes. 

When  Herbert  Spencer  says,  in  that  article  to  which  I 
have  already  alluded,  that  "  a  deity  who,  in  early  times, 
is  represented  as  hardening  men's  hearts,  so  that  they 
may  commit  punishable  acts,  and  as  employing  a  lying 
spirit  to  deceive  them,  comes,  through  a  convenient  ob- 
liviousness, to  be  thought  of  as  an  embodiment  of  the 
highest  virtues,"  he  is  riding  the  hobby  of  religious  Evo- 
lution to  the  last  gasp. 

A  child,  well  instructed  in  the  Catechism,  could  tell 
this  profound  Philosopher,  that  there  can  be  no  contra- 
diction in  the  word  of  God.  This  child  could  further 
explain,  to  this  eminent  leader  of  Free-thought,  that 
whatever  seems  to  jar  with  the  plain  doctrine  of  God's 
love  for  the  whole  human  race,  and  "  who  will  have  all 
MEN  to  be  saved"  (1  Tim.  ii.  4),  must  be  understood  in  a 
sense  consistent  with  this  frequently  repeated  declaration 
of  the  Divine  goodness.  When  God  is  said  to  darken 
the  mind,  and  harden  the  heart  of  the  obstinate  sinner, 


260   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   UNTINGED   BY   THE 

He  does  so,  not  by  acting  directly^  but  indirectly^  by 
permitting  and  not  stopping  those  evils,  whicb  tbe  will- 
fully obdurate  sinner  rashly  courts,  and  from  the  fatal 
embrace  of  which,  God  is  bound,  neither  in  justice  nor 
in  mercy,  to  tear  him  forcibly  away. 

So  much  then  for  "  the  gloominess,  and  savage  harsh- 
ness of  revealed  Religion,"  as  it  appears  to  its  enemies. 
When  men,  like  Ingersoll,  heap  up  all  the  terrible  things 
which  are  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  means 
which  God  found  necessary  to  check  a  perverse  people, 
ever  sliding  back  into  the  worst  depths  of  corrupt  Idola- 
try, and  sums  up,  by  calling  the  God  of  the  Bible,  "  a 
fiend,"  and  in  the  extremity  of  his  hatred  for  the  Being 
who  has  made  him,  turns  lovingly  to  the  God  he  imag- 
ines he  finds  in  unconscious  nature,  he  seems  to  forget 
that  this  Personification  of  amiability  can  be  very  wrath- 
ful at  times. 

There  are  such  things  as  earthquakes,  and  plagues,  and 
inundations,  suddenly  sweeping  away  thousands  of  inno- 
cent with  the  guilty,  and  dreadful  shipwrecks,  wherein 
helpless  infancy,  and  fond  mothers,  and  brave  men  perish, 
with  the  ungodly,  beneath  the  cruel  waters. 

These  cataclysms  are  of  course,  in  his  view,  only  the 
freaks  of  his  charming  and  idolized  mistress.  And  if 
she  indulges  in  these  sports,  which  he  denounces  as  savage 
and  undiscriminating,  she  cannot  be  "  all  his  fancy  painted 
her."  How  much  more  wise  it  would  be  for  him,  instead 
of  stupidly  fondling  with  a  thing  without  feeling  or  in- 
telligence, to  turn  to  the  great  Being  "  who  has  made  all 
things  well,"  and  who  "  is  gracious,  and  true,  and  patient, 
and  ordering  all  things  in  mercy"  (Wisdom  xv.  1),  "  he- 
cause  He  considereth  the  end  of  all  things^"^  (Job  xxviii.  3). 

Perhaps  with  this  key  of  the  far-reaching  knowledge  of 


GLOOM    OF  PREDESTINATION.  261 

God,  lie  might,  notwithstanding  his  bitter  prejudices,  the 
offspring  of  narrow  and  short-sighted  views  of  Provi- 
dence, be  brought,  lilie  Yoltaire,  to  see  that  there  is  some- 
thing after  all  in  the  consideration  of  final  results. 

Men  of  the  school  of  thought  of  the  American  Free- 
thinkers, are  always  harping  on  that  newly-discovered  prin- 
ciple of  ethics, — that  '^  Consequences  determine  the  qual- 
ity of  an  action."  Of  course  this  is  senseless  as  regards 
man's  limited  experience  :  as  no  individual  can  form  the 
least  idea  of  the  ultimate  consequences  of  his  own  acts. 
But  applied  to  Him — ^in  whose  infinite  knowledge  the 
past,  present,  and  future  are  as  one,  the  consequences  of 
what  seem  to  us  unmitigated  afflictions,  may  be,  as  no 
doubt  they  are  in  the  Christian  view — sovereign  acts  dic- 
tated by  Infinite  mercy.  He  who  has  created  all  men, 
not  merely  to  be  rich,  or  happy,  or  prosperous  in  this 
world,  but  to  be  happy  with  Him  for  all  eternity,  and  is 
Lord  and  Master  of  all  things,  knows  how  to  dispose  of 
His  creatures,  as  will  best  accord  with  "the  one  thing 
necessary." 

If  unbelievers  would  only  carefully  examine  the  his- 
tory of  their  own  lives,  they  would  find,  in  their  experi- 
ence, much  reason  to  admire  the  Infinite  mercy  of  the 
Great  God,  "Who  endures  with  much  patience  vessels 
of  wrath,  fitted  to  destruction"  (Rom.  ix.  22).  If  the 
troubles  and  misfortunes,  under  which  they  may  have 
groaned,  and  which  probably  excited  much  of  their  bit- 
terness against  God  and  His  revealed  Religion,  have  opened 
their  eyes  ever  so  little  to  the  vanity  of  those  things  which 
so  quickly  pass  away:  they  might  recognize,  in  these 
afflictions,  not  stem  wrath,  but  gentle  mercy. 

The  subjects  treated  of  in  the  last  two  chapters  are  of 
so   much   importance,  to   enable   strangers   to   Catholic 


262  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    UNTINGED. 

Christianity  to  understand  the  spirit  of  this  venerable 
creed,  that  I  feel  it  almost  necessary  to  add  to  them  a 
short  exposition  of  Divine  grace,  or  that  supernatural 
aid  given  to  all  men,  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  enable  them 
to  attain  to  the  end  of  their  being. 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  AND   DIVINE   GHAOE.   263 


CHAPTEE  XIIL 

Catholic  Christianity  and  Divine  Grace. 

n^HERE  are  certain  lines  laid  down  bj  Catholic 
-■-  teaching  on  the  subject  of  Grace,  which,  when  thej 
are  once  distinguished,  enable  a  fairly  instructed  Chris- 
tian to  move  safely,  through  the  mazes  and  obscurities, 
which  Theological  discussion  has  heaped  up  around  this 
important  doctrine. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  always  borne  in  mind,  that 
Grace  is  not  merited  by  any  individual.  It  is  a  super- 
natm-al  gift  which  God  grants  gratuitously,  and  in  view 
of  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  intelligent  creatures,  in 
order  to  conduct  them  towards  their  eternal  salvation. 

]^atural  endowments,  such  as  good  qualities  of  soul 
and  body,  an  attractive  exterior,  winning  manners,  a  just 
mind,  a  natural  taste  for  virtue,  an  even  temperament 
superior  to  blind  passion,  a  fund  of  uprightness,  and  love 
for  honesty  and  fair  dealing,  these  are  also  gifts  of  God. 
For  "  every  best  and  perfect  gift  is  from  above,  coming 
down  from  the  Father  of  lights"  (James  i.  17). 

But  these  good  qualities  are  not,  properly  speaking, 
what  we  understand  by  Graces.  These  gifts  of  nature 
are  enjoyed  by  individuals,  not  because  Jesus  Christ  has 
merited  them  for  us,  or  because  they  have  a  necessary 
connection  with  the  great  end  of  our  being.  The  helps 
which,  for  Christ's  sake,  are  given  us  by  God,  to  enable 
us  to  merit  Heaven, — these  divine  impulses,  or  desires, 
or  affections,  which  stir  up  the  soul,  and  excite  a  real 


264   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE. 

interest  in  the  better  life  beyond  the  grave,  these  are  the 
gifts  which  we  call  by  the  name  of  Divine  Grace. 

They  are  called  Interior  graces,  to  distinguish  them 
from  the  Exterior  aids  which  we  derive  from  the  lessons 
of  the  Gospel,  from  the  preaching  of  these  heavenly 
truths,  and  the  example  of  those  who  make  them  the  rule 
of  their  lives. 

It  may  be  well  to  remark  here,  that  Exterior  Graces  and 
natural  gifts,  such  as  those  mentioned  above,  are  the  only 
Graces  recognized  by  the  Pelagian  heretics,  whose  opin- 
ions on  this  subject  were  confuted  by  the  great  St. 
Augustine.  I  notice  this  particularly  because,  as  we 
shall  see  presently,  these  errors  lie  at  the  root  of  all  the 
misconceptions  of  the  Catholic  doctrine,  which  prevail 
at  the  present  day. 

We  know  from  our  own  experience,  that  Interior 
Graces,  which  inspire  us  with  good  thoughts,  holy  de- 
sires, and  pious  resolutions,  do  not  come  from  ourselves ; 
the  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  they  come  from  God, 
and  that  they  are  antecedent  to  all  merit  on  our  part. 
When  we  say  with  regard  to  an  individual,  that  he  is  so 
good,  that  he  ought  to  be  a  member  of  the  true  Church, 
we  are,  perhaps  unconsciously,  expressing  opinions,  at 
variance  with  Catholic  teaching.  'No  one,  however 
naturally  gifted,  however  amiable,  however  admirable  in 
natural  goodness,  can  have  the  least  right  to  the  Interior 
Graces,  which  our  Divine  Lord  has  merited  for  us.  A 
good  Pagan,  or  a  bad  Christian,  as  far  as  strict  rights  are 
concerned,  has  just  as  much  claim  on  the  Divine  bounty, 
for  these  interior  movements  inclining  to  holiness,  as  a 
dumb  animal  has  to  the  gift  of  intelligence  and  speech. 
He  might  deserve  from  his  fellow-men,  like  Aristides, 
the  title  of  "  the  just,"  and  yet  not  deserve,  as  sometliing 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE.   265 

due  to  him,  the  least  tittle  of  any  supernatural  recognition 
or  reward  of  his  apparent  rectitude. 

To  bring  out  more  distinctly  how  decidedly  the  Catho- 
lic doctrine  shows  our  absolute  dependence  on  the  gratui- 
tous mercy  of  God,  I  need  only  mention  that  it  is  de- 
fined, as  an  article  of  Faith,  that  the  first  movements  to- 
wards repentance,  and  the  very  thought  and  desire  of 
this  blessing,  come  to  us  from  the  impulse  of  Divine 
Grace  (Concil.  Trident,  sess.  vi.,  de  justificatione,  C.  5, 
Can.  3).  This  is  in  fact  only  the  development  of  the 
truth  taught  by  the  Apostle,  "  'No  man  can  say  the  Lord 
Jesus,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost"  (1.  Cor.  xii.  3) ;  and  "  We 
are  not  sufficient  to  think  anything  of  ourselves,  as  of 
ourselves ;  but  our  sufficiency  is  from  God  "  (2.  Cor.  iii.  6). 

From  the  rigor  with  which  the  Catholic  Church  main- 
tains this  doctrine  of  St.  Paul,  Infidels  argue,  that  there 
is  no  encouragement  given  to  those,  who,  by  a  naturally 
good  disposition,  or  the  effects  of  early  training,  are  dis- 
posed to  rise  from  the  depths  of  sin. 

If  they  would  only  recognize,  in  these  interior  prompt- 
ings to  good,  the  preventing  grace  of  a  compassionate 
God,  they  would  easily  comprehend,  that  there  is  no 
ground  whatever  for  a  charge  of  this  kind.  There  is, 
on  the  contrary,  in  Catholic  theology,  the  very  highest 
encouragement  to  a  change  of  life.  Every  one  who 
comes  into  this  world  receives  this  preventing  grace.  It 
is  called  also  Actual  Grace,  as  distinguished  from  Habitual 
or  sanctifying  Grace.  It  does  not,  like  this  latter,  render 
those  who  receive  it,  acceptable  to  God,  and  worthy  of 
eternal  happiness ;  but  it  prevents,  or  leads  them  on,  by 
its  inspirations  before  their  thoughts  are  naturally  in- 
clined to  virtue,  to  this  happy  determination. 

This  common  grace,  given  abundantly  to  every  one 


266   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   DIVINE   GEACE. 

for  Christ's  sake,  is  not  the  result  of  early  training  or 
good  natural  dispositions ;  it  is  a  real  operation  of  God, 
whereby  He  enlightens  our  mind,  and  moves  our  will  to 
break  the  bonds  of  Satan,  to  overcome  a  temptation,  or 
to  accomplish  a  duty  long  neglected.  It  is,  in  all  pro- 
bability, the  Grace  of  prayer. 

God  has,  in  His  Infinite  mercy,  made  prayer  a  sort  of 
instinct  of  our  weak  and  fallen  nature.  At  times  it  is 
felt  so  strongly  that,  without  positive  resistance,  the 
erring  soul  is  impelled  to  cry  out  to  its  Creator  for 
help.  When  danger  to  life  is  imminent,  and  human  aid 
is  out  of  the  question,  and  self-exertion  is  utterly  power- 
less, man  is,  in  a  manner,  irresistibly  moved  to  appeal  to 
some  power  superior  to  himself,  or  his  fellow-creatures. 
He  may  not  have  any  determinate  notion  of  a  God ;  he 
may  be,  not  only  a  Pagan,  but  a  wild  savage  destitute  of 
any  knowledge,  save  that  feeling  immediately  connected 
with  the  sense  of  self-preservation ;  yet  if  he  yields  to  this 
impulse,  though  it  may  be  only  to  send  forth  a  cry  for 
help, — an  almost  involuntary  cry,  wrung  from  him  by 
the  agony  of  pain,  or  the  misery  of  helpless  desolation, 
that  cry  is  in  itself  a  prayer,  and  will  be  heard  by  Him 
who  has  inspired  it.  It  is  a  first  Grace,  and  if  the  un- 
fortunate being  who  utters  it,  accompanies  the  appeal 
with  a  corresponding  movement  of  the  heart,  and  thus 
co-operates  with  the  supernatural  movement  within  him, 
it  will  be  followed  by  other  Grace,  which  will  bring  either 
the  relief  desired,  or,  better  still,  will  rescue  the  almost 
perishing  soul  from  blank  despair. 

It  is  the  distinctive  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
as  opposed  to  every  shade  of  Calvinism  or  Lutheranism, 
that  no  matter  how  deeply  fallen  man  may  be,  he  still 
possesses  the  power  of  co-operating  with  the  Divine  im- 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE  GRACE.   267 

pulse.  He  may,  if  lie  pleases,  stifle  the  impulse  ;  but  lie 
may  also,  with  perfect  freedom,  yield  to  its  suggestions. 

It  would  be  contrary  to  Catholic  doctrine  to  beheve, 
that  an  impulse  like  this,  which  is  in  reality  an  interior 
grace,  is  reserved  only  to  believers.  As  Dr.  Moehler  ob- 
serves, "Catholics  not  only  demonstrate,  from  the  ex- 
amples of  illustrious  Pagans,  the  moral  freedom  enjoyed 
by  heathens,  and  the  remnants  of  good  to  be  found 
among  them,  but  they  defend  moreover  the  proposition 
that  God's  special  Grace,  communicated  for  the  sake  of 
Christ's  merits,  working  retrospectively,  and  confirming 
the  better  surviving  sentiments  in  the  human  breast,  is 
undeniably  to  be  traced  in  many  phenomena"  (Symbol- 
ism, p.  106). 

That  there  are  no  Graces  given  except  through  faith 
in  Christ,  and  that,  outside  the  Catholic  Church,  there 
is  given  no  Grace,  are  propositions  condemned  by  the 
Church  as  heretical  (Constitut.  Unigenitus,  Prop.  26 
and  29). 

It  was  the  peculiar  teaching  of  the  early  Eeformers  on 
Original  sin,  that  led  them  into  those  grave  errors,  which 
shock  the  common-sense  of  unbelievers,  and  cause  them 
to  declaim  against  the  degradation  of  humanity,  which 
they  wrongly  believe  is  attributable  to  the  teaching  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  How  beautiful  is  the  real  Catho- 
lic doctrine,  when  compared  with  these  foolish  fancies  of 
Luther  and  Calvin ! — "  that  man  under  the  influence  of 
Divine  Grace  is  as  a  saw  that  passively  lets  itself  be 
moved  by  the  hand  of  the  workman" — or  "  a  pillar  of 
salt,  a  block,  a  clod  of  earth,  incapable  of  working  with 
God  "  (Luther  in  Genes,  c.  xix.). 

The  following  is  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Church,    as   expressed   by   Moehler,   quoting  from   the 


268   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE. 

Council  of  Trent, — "  This  Divine  call,  sent  to  the  sinner 
for  Christ's  sake,  is  expressed  not  only  in  an  outward 
invitation,  through  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  but  also 
in  an  interior  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  rouses  the 
slumbering  energies  of  man,  more  or  less  sunk  in  the 
sleep  of  spiritual  death,  and  urges  him  to  unite  himself 
with  the  power  from  above,  in  order  to  enter  upon  a  new 
course  of  life.  If  the  sinner  hearkens  to  this  call,  then 
faith  in  God's  word  is  the  first  effect  of  Divine  and  hu- 
man activity,  co-operating  in  the  way  described.  The 
sinner  perceives  the  existence  of  a  higher  order  of  things, 
and  with  entire,  and  till  then  unimagined,  certainty, 
possesses  the  conviction  of  the  same.  The  higher  truths 
and  promises  which  he  hears,  especially  the  tidings  that 
God  so  loved  the  world,  as  to  give  up  His  only  begotten 
Son  for  it,  and  offered  to  all,  forgiveness  of  sins,  for  the 
sake  of  Christ's  merits,  shake  the  sinner.  While  he  com- 
pares what  he  is,  with  what,  according  to  the  revealed 
will  of  God,  he  ought  to  be  ;  while  he  learns,  that  so 
grievous  is  sin,  and  the  world's  corruption,  that  it  is  only 
through  the  mediation  of  the  Son  of  God,  it  can  be  ex- 
tirpated, he  attains  to  true  self-knowledge,  and  is  filled 
with  the  fear  of  God's  judgments.  He  now  turns  to  the 
Divine  Compassion  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  conceives  the 
confiding  hope,  that,  for  the  sake  of  his  Redeemer's 
merits,  God  may  graciously  vouchsafe  to  him,  the  for- 
giveness of  his  sins.  From  this  contemplation  of  God's 
love  for  man,  a  spark  of  Divine  love  is  enkindled  in  the 
human  breast — ^liatred  and  detestation  for  sin  arise,  and 
man  doth  penance"  (Moehler,  Symbohsm,  p.  117,  quot- 
ing Cone.  Trident,  sess.  vi.  c.  6). 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  free  co-operation,  without  which, 
God's  Grace,  though  omnipotent  in  itseK,  can  by  the  order 


CATHOLIC   CHUISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE  GRACE.   269 

established  by  Him,  effect  nothing  in  the  heart  of  man. 
God  has  made  ns  free,  and  while  He  would  again,  if  it 
were  necessary,  give  up  His  Divine  Son  for  us  all,  so  that 
none  should  perish,  He  will  not  in  any  way  deface  the 
image  of  Himself,  stamped  on  man,  by  overruling  the 
glorious  privilege  of  human  liberty. 

The  immense  difference  between  the  Catholic  doctrine 
and  that  of  the  Eef  ormers,  the  latter  teaching,  as  it  does, 
the  total  annihilation  of  free-will,  clearly  demonstrates 
how  intimately  all  revealed  truths  are  knit  together: 
and  that  one  cannot  be  disturbed,  without  throwing  the 
whole  into  confusion, — a  confusion  that  affects  not  only 
abstract  principles,  but  extends  to  the  most  practical  con- 
sequences. 

Christians  who  reject  the  teaching  of  the  infallible 
guide,  point  with  satisfaction  to  the  serious  disputes,  and 
heart-rendings,  and  bitter  persecutions,  that  arose  in  the 
times  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  from  the  change  of  a  letter 
in  the  expression  of  orthodox  faith.  "  See,"  they  ex- 
claim, "the  folly  of  extreme  dogmatic  teaching.  Can 
anything  be  conceived  more  pitiful  than  the  fierce  con- 
tentions about  the  spelling  of  a  word  applied  to  the  Re- 
deemer, and  whether  one  single  vowel  should  be  omitted 
— whether  the  word  should  he  omousios  ov  omoiottsios  P^ 
Yes,  but  the  great  fact  of  the  Atonement,  and  therefore 
the  whole  foundation  of  Christianity,  in  the  faith  of  be- 
lievers, rested  on  the  very  point  indicated  by  the  single 
letter.  It  was  a  matter  of  sovereign  importance  whether 
Christians  should  believe,  that  Christ  was  really  God,  or 
only  a  Being,  in  some  sort  like  to  God ;  the  first  Greek 
word  clearly  expressing  His  Divinity — the  second  only  in- 
definitely something  like  unto  God. 

Those  who  applaud  the  "  broad "  interpretation  of  a 


270  CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE. 

mystery,  see  with  indifference  the  whole  Athanasian  Creed 
crumble  into  nothingness ; — while  the  Catholic  Church,  to- 
day, as  ever,  and  until  the  end  of  time  will  proclaim  that 
Mary  is  the  Mother  of  God,  and  that  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  is  "  the  Word  made  flesh,"  and  "  the  glory  of  the  only 
begotten  Son  of  the  Father," — consubstantial  with  Him — 
"  and  full  of  Grace  and  truth"  (John  i.  14). 

The  second  grand  principle,  that  man  can  co-operate 
with,  or  resist  Divine  Grace,  taken  with  the  truth  explained 
in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  that  Grace  is  beyond  all 
human  merit  constitute  the  unmistakable  lines,  on  which 
orthodox  Faith  moves  safely,  through  the  mists  and 
sliadows,  which  obscure  the  whole  subject. 

The  main  diflBculty  consists  in  reconciling  the  freedom 
of  the  will  with  the  efficiency  of  the  Divine  impulse ; 
and  though  Theologians  differ,  and  probably  will  differ  to 
the  end  of  time,  all  Catholics  are  agreed  in  this,  that  Di- 
vine Grace  is  given  to  us  gratis^  or  without  merit  on  our 
part,  and  that,  in  determining  us  to  good,  it  leaves  us  per- 
fectly free  to  accept  or  resist  its  influence.  It  will  be 
sufficient  merely  to  note  that  the  dispute  runs  on  the 
points  whether  Grace  acts  physically  or  morally,  in  pro- 
ducing meritorious  human  acts  ;  whether  it  works  directly 
or  indirectly  ;  immediately,  or  by  rendering  the  object  be- 
fore the  choice  of  the  soul,  pleasing  and  delectable. 

There  are  different  systems  which  undertake  to  explain 
these  apparently  insoluble  questions,  but  they  could 
scarcely  interest  the  general  reader.  It  is  in  truth  a  mys- 
tery, and  all  the  explanations  go  to  establish  the  conclusion, 
that  the  efficiency  of  Divine  Grace  depends  practically  on 
the  free  acceptance,  or  resistance  of  the  will.  Our  Father 
who  is  in  Heaven,  may  urge  us  to  do  good,  or  to  avoid  evil, 
by  exciting  within  us  certain  feelings,  that  ordinarily  affect 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE  GRACE.   271 

human  beings,  or  a  special  congruous  feeling,  that  falls  in 
with  the  pecuKar  tendencies  of  each  individual,  or  Grace 
itself — may  mould  and  fashion,  directly  and  immediately, 
the  will ;  but  He  will  never  move  us  to  act  by  the  exercise 
of  an  omnipotent  force,  that  necessitates  our  determina- 
tion. If  He  did.  He  would,  by  this  exercise  of  His  sov- 
ereign power,  destroy  in  the  individual,  thus  moved  to  any 
particular  act,  so  far  the  grand  distinction  by  which,  not- 
withstanding all  our  unworthiness.  He  has  been  pleased 
to  exalt  us  above  all  His  creatures,  and  stamped  on  our 
souls  the  image  and  likeness  of  Himself. 

When  the  Reformers  taught  that  Free-will  was  so 
fatally  wounded  by  the  Fall,  that  it  perished  altogether, 
and  that,  consequently,  man  had  no  power  to  co-operate 
with,  or  to  resist  the  supernatural  influence  of  Grace,  they 
were  driven,  by  the  necessity  of  this  position,  to  deny 
the  existence  of  moral  responsibility.  Whether  they 
wished  it  or  not,  they  found  themselves  fixed,  as  immov- 
ably as  Stoics,  on  the  suicidal,  and  revolting  weapon  of 
absolute  fatality.  Their  disciples  may  do  all  they  can  to 
soften  down  the  terrible  consequences  of  this  fatal  error ; 
but  in  the  judgment  of  common-sense  and  sound  morality, 
they  stand  before  the  world  convicted  of  a  fearful  mis- 
take, which,  more  than  any  exaggerated  calumny,  invented 
to  injure  the  fair  name  of  the  Spouse  of  Christ,  has  cov- 
ered Christianity,  as  interpreted  by  them,  with  hopeless 
confusion  and  disgrace. 

I  said,  in  the  beginning,  that  the  errors  of  the  Pelagians 
he  at  the  root  of  all  the  misconceptions  of  Catholic  doc- 
trine on  this  subject,  which  prevail  at  the  present  time ; 
and  hence,  it  may  be  interesting  to  know,  in  a  few  words, 
what  these  errors  mainly  were. 

The  Pelagian  heresy  is  the  exaltation  of  humanity,  at 


272   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE. 

the  expense  of  the  Divine  government.  Under  pretence 
of  defending  Free-will,  tlie  Pelagians,  with  their  uphold- 
ers, semi-Pelagians,  Armenians  and  Socinians,  deny  the 
influence  of  Divine  Grace.  They  deny  the  transmission 
of  original  sin,  and  therefore,  maintain  that  the  descend- 
ants of  Adam  are  able,  without  any  supernatural  help,  to 
attain  the  end  of  their  being.  According  to  them.  Free- 
will consists  in  a  perfect  balance  between  good  and  evil. 
Grace,  or  what  is  properly  called  Grace,  the  interior  emo- 
tions excited  in  the  soul  by  God's  Holy  Spirit,  overturns, 
in  their  view,  tliis  balance,  and  thereby  destroys  Free- 
will. 

Of  course  their  notion  of  Free-will  being  a  perfect 
balance,  between  good  and  evil,  is  a  mistaken  premise ; 
for  it  is  evident,  on  this  explanation  of  human  liberty,  the 
really  virtuous  man  would,  in  proportion  as  he  advanced 
in  holiness,  lose  his  liberty.  The  balance,  inclining  more 
and  more  to  the  side  of  good,  by  the  force  of  habit  even, 
not  to  speak  of  inclination  and  conviction,  would  leave 
him  the  slave  of  goodness. 

They  got  over  the  difficulties  of  numerous  texts  in  the 
Bible,  by  explaining  that,  where  the  Sacred  Scriptures 
insisted  on  the  necessity  of  supernatural  help,  the  mean- 
ing was,  only  exterior  help,  such  as  reading  the  Scriptures, 
or  listening  to  sermons  and  expositions  of  the  Law  of 
God. 

They  never  would  admit  the  necessity  of  Interior 
Grace.  When  they  say,  that  God  does  not  refuse  Grace 
to  the  man  who  does  all  he  can  to  live  well,  they  mean 
that  He  gives  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  of  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  Gospel,  or  the  moral  excellence  ^f  the  Divine 
law. 

The  semi-Pelagians  did  not  deny  altogether  the  neces- 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE.   273 

sity  of  Interior  Grace ;  but  tliey  maintained  that  what  we 
call  "preventing  Grace,"  or  the  first  impulses  to  seiTe 
God,  the  desire  and  love  of  virtue,  disgust  for  sin,  and 
similar  movements,  were  not  supernatural ;  but  proceeded 
from  man's  own  natural  feelings ;  and  that,  only  when 
man  disposed  himself  naturally  to  merit  and  receive 
the  supernatural  interior  help,  did  he  really  receive  it. 
They  held,  moreover,  that  having  once  received  this  in- 
terior help,  he  had  no  need  of  its  continuance,  to  enable 
him  to  persevere. 

The  Catholic  Church  declares  that  actual  interior  grace 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  man,  not  only  to  enable  him  to 
perform  a  work  meritorious  in  the  sight  of  God,  but  even 
to  desire  to  do  it.  The  simple  desire  of  Grace  is,  in 
itself,  a  Grace ;  consequently  Grace  is  always  gratuitous, 
and  never  the  recompense  of  natural  good  dispositions ; 
and  moreover  to  enable  man  to  persevere  in  doing  good, 
and  avoiding  evil,  he  always  needs  a  special  supernatural 
help,  without  which,  however  strong  his  determination, 
he  will  certainly  fall  away  again.  Hence  it  follows  that 
God  gives  to  those  who  are  saved,  first  justifying  Grace, 
and  then  final  perseverance,  not  because  He  foresees  in 
them  good  dispositions,  which  will  lead  them  to  corre- 
spond with  these  gifts;  but  because,  in  His  infinite 
wisdom  and  goodness.  He  judges  fit  to  bestow  these  gifts 
gratuitously. 

This  doctrine  is,  of  course,  most  offensive  to  human 
pride  ;  and  is  as  much  hated  by  the  spirit  of  unbelief,  as 
any  of  the  misapprehensions  of  Catholic  Christianity, 
that  shock  human  reason. 

It  is  particularly  odious  in  these  days ;  for  the  popular 
religion  of  the  present  time  is,  not  so  much  the  worship 
of  nature,  as  the  worship  of  humanity.     To  quote  the 


274  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE. 

words  of  Frederic  Harrison,  in  a  remarkable  article  in  the 
number  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  March,  1884 — 
"  The  religion  of  men,  in  the  vast  cycle  of  primitive  ages, 
was  reverence  for  ISTatnre,  as  influencing  man.  The 
religion  of  man,  in  the  vast  cycles  that  are  to  come,  will  be 
reverence  for  Humanity  supported  by  Mature.  .  .  .  The 
final  religion  of  enlightened  man  is  the  systematized  and 
scientific  form  of  the  spontaneous  religion  of  natural 
man.  Both  rest  on  the  same  elements, — belief  in  the 
Power  which  controls  his  life,  and  grateful  reverence  for 
the  power  so  acknowledged.  The  primitive  man  thought 
that  Power  to  be  the  object  of  Nature  affecting  man. 
The  cultured  man  knows  that  Power  to  be  Humanity 
itself,  controlling  and  controlled  by  nature  according  to 
natural  law." 

How  this  new-  religion  will,  as  the  clever  essayist 
believes,  make  good  men  and  women,  is  more  than  one 
of  practical  common-sense  can  see.  Mr.  Harrison  does 
not  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul, — this  dogma 
is,  according  to  him,  "  a  vapid  figment."  The  humanity 
of  the  past  is  therefore,  according  to  his  views,  resolved 
into  nothingism.  The  poor,  and  afflicted,  who  most  of 
all,  need  sympathy  between  them  and  the  object  of  their 
belief,  will  hardly  give  their  veneration,  and  service,  and 
love,  to  that  thing  called  Humanity,  which,  in  the  pride 
of  its  Egoism,  as  manifested  in  the  enlightened  individ- 
uals, who  are  supposed  by  Progress  to  personate  this 
unknowable  abstraction,  is  rapidly  freezing  up  the  hearts 
of  all,  who  have  been  taught  by  it,  to  forget  the  Sovereign 
Lord  of  all  things,  and  the  Father,  and  Protector,  and 
Pewarder,  of  those  who  place  their  trust  in  Him. 

But  when  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Grace  is  separated 
from  all  the  dross  and  impurity,  with  which  error  and 


CATHOLIC   CIIKISTIANITY   AI^D   DIVINE   GRACE.   275 

heresy  have  confused  it,  how  beautifully  it  falls  in  with 
all  that  we  know,  by  Revelation,  of  God's  infinite  good- 
ness !  When  it  is  considered,  in  its  simple  truth,  apart 
alike  from  the  gloom  of  Puritanism,  and  the  sickly  garb 
of  emotional  and  sentimental  religious  fancies  ;  and  con- 
trasted with  "the  concupiscence  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
concupiscence  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,"  which 
form  the  true  character  of  the  idol  of  the  day ;  "  men  of 
good-will "  are  sure  to  cling,  with  fonder  love  and  more 
confidence  than  ever,  to  the  blessed  God,  "  from  whom 
every  good  gift  comes ; "  and  who  is  the  real  Father  of 
His  children  in  every  age. 

For,  what  does  the  consoling  Catholic  doctrine  of  Grace 
emphatically  teach  us  ?  Is  it  not,  first  of  all,  that  the 
Great  God  "  is  no  respecter  of  persons  "  (Acts  x.  34) ; 
but  One  "Who,  without  respect  of  persons,  judgeth 
according  to  every  one's  work"  (1  Pet.  i.  17) ;  "  Who 
maketh  His  sun  to  rise  upon  the  good  and  the  bad,  and 
raineth  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust "  (Matt.  v.  45).  We 
are  all  His  children ;  and  to  the  poorest,  the  lowHest,  and 
the  most  degraded,  is  given,  according  to  the  measure  of 
His  bounty,  a  gift  beyond  all  price,  that  supernatural 
gift,  which  will  enable  every  one  to  merit  Heaven.  To 
some  He  gives  more,  to  some  less,  but  to  all,  sufficient. 
He  gives  to  every  one  a  treasure  of  infinite  value  ;  for  if 
it  is  only  well  employed,  it  will  be  the  price  of  that 
glory,  which  is  the  happiness  of  God  Himself. 

More  than  this.  He  gives  it  again  and  again,  when, 
through  our  own  most  grievous  fault,  it  has  been  squan- 
dered and  lost.  Not  seven  times,  but  "seventy  times 
seven  times,"  He  is  ready  to  renew  His  gift.  IS'ay 
more,  though  during  a  long  life,  we  may  have  set  our 
hearts  on  perishable  objects,  and  preferred  them  to  Him; 


276   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   DIVINE   GRACE. 

even,  "in  tlie  eleventh  lionr,"  wlien  the  dawning  of 
eternity  shall  exhibit  to  us  the  awful  precipice,  to  the 
briuk  of  which  our  blind  folly  has  conducted  us,  and  fill 
us  with  terror,  He  will  still  be  near  us,  with  His  merci- 
ful arms  stretched  out  to  save  us.  If,  even  in  that  last 
hour,  we  will  only  yield  to  the  pressing  influence  of  that 
common  grace  of  prayer,  and  cry  to  Him  for  help,  He 
will  so  surely  give  us  that  abundant  aid  which  alone  can 
save  us  from  destruction,  that  a  deliberate  doubt  of  His 
mercy,  and  the  wilfulness  of  despair,  would,  in  the  injury 
it  offers  to  His  promise  of  loving  patience,  surpass  in 
perverse  wickedness  the  iniquities  of  a  sinful  life. 

Such  thoughts  as  these  help  us  to  understand  some- 
thing of  the  consolation  afforded  to  the  worst  sinner  in 
the  world,  by  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Grace. 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   PROSPERITY.   277 


CHAPTEE  XIY. 
Catholic  Christianity  and  Material   Prosperity. 

THE  thouglits  naturally  suggested  by  the  passage 
from  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  quoted  towards  tlie 
close  of  the  last  chapter,  that  Humanity  is  to  be  the  sole 
Deity  of  cultured  and  enlightened  man  in  the  future, 
lead  me  to  consider  another  popular  argument  against 
revealed  Religion  which  is  intimately  connected  with 
this  new  object  of  deification. 

I  do  not  question  the  truth  of  the  statement  of  this 
apostle  of  Free-thought,  as  regards  those  whom  he  con- 
siders enlightened ;  nay  I  will  go  further,  and  express 
my  conviction,  that  "  Humanity,"  which  can  mean  noth- 
ing else,  than  all  that  is  dear  to  the  natural  man, — his 
comfort,  and  ease  and  happiness  in  this  life,  is  already 
enthroned,  as  the  object  of  adoration,  by  ever-increasing 
crowds  of  silly  votaries. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  more  intelligible  to  substitute  for 
the  abstraction,  something  more  akin  to  Pealism ;  and 
say  that  Riches  or  "Wealth,  which  enable  man  to  be  happy, 
as  they  understand  happiness,  here  below, — ^is  the  actual 
Deity  of  the  unbelieving  world.  Our  Divine  Lord  calls 
this  Deity — Mammon  :  our  practical  friends  beyond  the 
Atlantic,  call  it  profanely,  "  the  Almighty  Dollar." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  upon  the  matter ;  those  who 
reject  the  hopes  held  out  to  us  by  Revelation,  worship 
the  great  enemy  of  Christ,  whose  service  is  absolutely 
incompatible  wdth  that  which  we  owe  to  the  Son  of  God. 


278  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

"  You  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon"  (Matt.  vi.  24). 
All  the  fashionable  "isms"  of  the  present  day  only 
amuse  the  intellect ;  but  the  heart  clings  to  its  treasure, 
and  loving  it,  must  hate  the  other  master  who  demands 
its  affections. 

Of  course,  I  do  not  mean  Wealth  for  its  own  sake  ;  but 
that  which  worldly  men  treasure  as  their  chief  good  as  a 
means  and  opportunity  of  satisfying  the  various  forms  of 
desire.  ^N^either  do  I  mean  for  a  moment  to  insinuate, 
that  the  majority  of  the  worshippers  of  Mammon  seek 
their  happiness  in  the  gratification  of  low  animal  passions. 
They  are  far  too  wise,  and  too  fond  of  their  comfort,  to 
plunge  into  excesses,  that  soon  bring  their  own  punish- 
ment. What  the  votaries  of  the  new  Deity  call  virtue, 
is  not  so  much  "irrational  self-denial,"  as  that  keen- 
sighted  prudence,  which  guards  against  excess,  and  those 
refined  tastes,  which  afford  exquisite  enjoyment  and 
gratification  to  the  sensual  appetite.  This  naturally  in- 
volves the  highest  degrees  of  quasi-intellectual  and 
aesthetic  culture. 

But  all  the  pleasures  of  life,  the  most  refined,  as  well 
as  the  most  animal,  depend  on  wealth,  as  the  means  of 
enjoying  them.  The  deity  of  wealth  is  devoutly  wor- 
shipped, not  only  by  unbelievers,  but  also,  covertly  per- 
haps, by  many  Christians.  Hence  comes  the  objection 
which  I  mean  to  answer,  and  which  is  urged  fiercely,  and 
with  entire  conviction  of  "its  truth,  against  Catholic 
Christianity  by  all  its  enemies. 

"  The  Catholic  teaching  is,"  they  say,  "  the  enemy  of 
social  happiness,  because  Catholic  countries  are  always 
poor,  and  behind  all  others  in  the  race  for  worldly  pros- 
perity, and  wealth,  and  influence.  There  is  something 
in  this  old  creed,  which  weighs  down  on  the  nations,  that 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  279 

put  faith  in  its  teaching,  and  leaves  them  broken  down 
and  distanced,  and  without  life  and  energy,  in  the  midst 
of  general  prosperity."  "  Look,"  they  triumphantly  ex- 
claim, in  every  record  of  public  opinion  devoted  to  their 
interests,  "  the  old  Church  is  manifestly  behind  the  times, 
wherever  it  exercises  its  baneful  influence.  Where  are 
now  the  nations  that  still  profess  the  Catholic  faith  ? 
Where  is  Catholic  Spain,  and  Austria  and  Italy  and 
France «" 

Or,  to  bring  things  nearer  home  to  those  who  speak 
the  English  language,  mark  the  state  of  Ireland.  Com- 
pare it  with  Protestant  Scotland,  or  note  the  fatal  degen- 
eracy, that  invariably  exists  in  the  same  country,  amongst 
the  Catholic  part  of  the  population,  in  comparison  with 
those  Provinces  or  districts  that  are  enlivened  by  the 
Protestant  element.  The  difference  is  so  great,  for  ex- 
ample, between  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  Cantons  of 
Switzerland,  or  Ulster  with  its  sturdy  Presbyterians,  and 
Connaught  with  its  miserable  and  starving  cottiers,  that 
a  stranger,  merely  passing  through  these  different  parts 
of  the  same  country,  will  at  once  perceive  the  wretched 
decay,  which  follows  necessarily  from  clinging  to  the 
musty  traditions  of  old-fashioned  ideas." 

I  cannot  help  noticing,  before  I  answer  this  popular 
objection,  how  strange  it  is,  that  Protestants,  who  are 
ever  boasting  of  their  purer  and  more  spiritual  worship, 
should  give  their  attention,  almost  exclusively,  to  this 
worldly  and  temporal  view  of  Religion.  Admitting  for  a 
moment,  that  the  facts  are  not  to  be  questioned  or  de- 
nied, does  it  follow  that  worldly  prosperity,  and  the 
active  and  successful  pursuit  of  wealth  and  power  and 
distinction  of  this  kind,  is  a  proof  of  the  truth  of  Pro- 
testantism?    If  so,  the  nature  of  the  Religion  preached 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

by  our  Divine  Lord,  and  exemplified  in  His  whole  life, 
must  have  completely  changed  its  character.  He  not 
only  declared  expressly,  that  no  man,  and  therefore  no 
body  of  men,  can  at  the  same  time  serve  God  and 
Mammon;  but  He  denounced  riches,  as  one  of  the 
greatest  obstacles  to  the  attainment  of  the  eternal  hap- 
piness. He  promised  His  disciples.  "  And  I  say  to  you, 
it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven"  (Matt.  xix.  24).  And  again — "  Wo  to  you  that 
are  rich :  for  you  have  received  your  consolation"  (Luke 
vi.  24).  He  sternly  repressed  the  earthly  ambitions  of 
His  disciples ;  and  told  them,  that  they  would  be  out- 
casts, and  persecuted,  and  the  most  miserable  of  men : 
and  as  far  as  He  could,  impressed  it  upon  their  minds, 
that  worldly  prosperity  is  no  evidence  of  Divine  favor. 

What  has  changed  all  this  ?  Is  it  the  "  progressive" 
spirit  of  the  world  ?  But  the  world  and  its  false  prin- 
ciples will  perish,  while  His  words  will  never  pass  away. 

However  I  do  not  care  to  press  this  point  farther  witli 
those  who  look  down  on  us  Catholics,  as  being  so  far 
beneath  them,  in  our  appreciation  of  Gospel  lessons,  and 
esteem  it  their  peculiar  privilege  to  hold  fast  to  "the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  It  is  only  one  of  these  numerous 
inconsistencies,  that  reveal  themselves  constantly  in  the 
ways  of  thinking  and  acting  of  those  who  will  not  "  hear 
the  Church." 

Those  who  openly  worship  Humanity,  and  all  that 
pleases  human  nature,  and  ridicule  the  maxims  and 
counsels  of  Christ,  wherever  they  clash  most  forcibly 
with  ideas  of  "  progress,"  have  a  right  to  press  the  ob- 
jection to  its  fullest  consequences.  If  they  are  perfectly 
satisfied  that  the  only  true  wisdom  and  practical  common- 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  281 

sense,  is  "  to  love  the  world,  and  the  things  that  are  in 
the  world,"  as  the  chief  good,  they  may  fairly  and  con- 
sistently urge  this  point  against  Catholic  Christianity.. 
Let  us  briefly  see  if  the  objection  is  founded  on  facts : 
it  is  common  enough,  but  not  on  this  account  more  true. 

I  will  admit  at  once,  that  pauperism,  bringing  with  it 
physical  and  moral  evils  of  the  worst  kind,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  plague  spots  of  modern  civilization. 

But  it  cannot  be  doul}ted,  that  Catholicity,  in  all  ages, 
has  devoted  its  most  earnest  attention  to  assuage  these 
evils.  The  existence  of  numerous  Religious  orders, 
founded  mainly  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  real  Christian 
charity,  in  the  performance,  according  to  solemn  vow,  of 
the  works  of  mercy,  spiritual  and  corporal,  settles  that 
question.  However  great  national  wealth  may  be,  there 
must  exist,  in  spite  of  this  wealth,  an  immense  amount 
of  real  poverty.  "The  poor,"  says  our  Divine  Lord, 
"  you  have  always  with  you"  (Matt.  xxvi.  11). 

Wealthy  London,  it  is  well  known,  has  its  tens  of 
thousands  of  wretched  human  beings,  who,  when  they 
rise  from  the  bare  earth,  or  from  crowded  dens,  worse  by 
far,  in  their  squalid  misery  than  the  caves  and  earth- 
homes  of  our  Bushmen,  know  not  where  to  turn  for  the 
bare  necessaries  of  life.  It  is  the  same  more  or  less  in 
all  the  great  cities  of  Europe  and  America. 

All  that  can  be  done  for  these  victims  of  extreme  want 
is  to  endeavor,  as  far  as  possible,  to  alleviate  their  suffer- 
ings :  and  the  most  blind  and  bigoted  enemy  of  the 
Catholic  Church  must  admit,  that,  in  proportion  to  the 
means  at  her  disposal,  and  to  the  liberty  of  action  allowed 
her  by  civil  governments,  she  has  always  made  the  most 
strenuous  exertions  to  provide  for  the  suffering  poor.  In 
this  respect,  she  has  so  far  surpassed  other  creeds,  that 


282  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

she  has  been  charged  with  an  excess  of  liberality,  which 
fosters  and  encourages  the  evil. 

I  need  not  saj  any  more  on  this  point,  but  come  at 
once  to  the  main  charge,  urged  against  her  by  the  abet- 
tors of  material  progress, — that  she  is  the  chief  obstruc- 
tion to  national  prosperity. 

The  case  of  Scotland,  as  compared  with  Ireland,  is 
most  frequently  quoted,  as  a  clear  and  convincing  proof, 
that  Protestantism  favors  the  development  of  national 
wealth,  while  Catholicity  prevents  it. 

"  Catholics,"  say  the  Infidel  and  the  upholders  of  ultra- 
liberalism  and  Free-thought,  "are  so  ground  down  by 
dogmatic  teaching,  and  senile  submission  to  authority, 
that  they  dare  not  cherish  the  aspirations  of  a  free  and 
enlightened  people.  They  must  obey  their  priests,  and 
as  it  is  the  interest  of  the  clergy  to  keep  them  in  bondage, 
the  people  have  no  chance  of  breaking  their  fetters,  and 
rising  to  the  sense  of  manly  feelings. 

"  Sectarian  passions,"  says  M.  de  Laveleye,  a  leader  of 
this  school  of  thought,  "have  been  too  often  imported 
into  the  study  of  these  questions.  It  is  time  that  we 
should  apply  to  it  the  method  of  observation,  and  the 
scientific  impartiality  of  the  physiologist  and  the  natural- 
ist. When  the  facts  are  established,  irrefragable  conclu- 
sions will  follow.  It  is  admitted,  that  the  Scotch  and 
Irish  are  of  the  same  origin.  Both  have  become  subject 
to  the  English  yoke.  Until  the  sixteenth  century,  Ireland 
was  much  more  civilized  than  Scotland.  During  the  first 
part  of  the  middle  ages,  Ireland  was  a  focus  of  civiliza- 
tion, while  Scotland  was  still  a  den  of  barbarians.  Since 
the  Scotch  have  embraced  the  Reformation,  they  have 
outrun  even  the  English.  .  .  .  Ireland,  on  the  other  hand, 
devoted  to  Ultramontanism,  is  poor,  miserable,  agitated 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  283 

by  the  spirit  of  rebellion,  and  seems  incapable  of  raising 
herself  by  her  own  strength." 

And  he  adds,  "  More  than  this,  in  the  very  same  coun- 
try, Protestant  Ulster  is  wealthy,  while  Catholic  Con- 
naught  is  wretchedly  poor"  ("  Protestantism  and  Catho- 
licity in  their  Bearing  upon  the  Liberty  and  Prosperity 
of  ]^ations,"  by  Emile  de  Laveleye,  p.  12).  The  com- 
parison is  so  often  made,  and  is  put  so  distinctly  by  this 
writer,  that,  if  as  I  hope  to  do,  I  prove  it  to  be  stupid 
and  worthless,  it  may  effect  more  to  enlighten  my  readers 
on  this  point,  than  whole  pages  of  more  general  reasoning. 

"With  all  his  professions  of  treating  the  question  of  fact 
"  with  scientific  impartiality,"  this  writer  makes  egregi- 
ous bhmders.  The  Scotch  are  not  of  the  same  origin  as 
the  Irish.  This  is  true  only  of  a  small  portion  of  the 
Scottish  race,  the  Highlanders,  and  the  men  of  the  Isles. 
Again,  the  races  differ  in  Ulster  and  Connaught.  In 
Connaught,  we  have  the  descendants  of  an  early  Celtic 
nation;  in  Ulster,  a  colony  of  English  and  Lowland 
Scotch.     So  much  for  scientific  accuracy. 

But  mistakes  like  these  do  not  affect  the  question  very 
much.  The  causes  of  the  prosperity  of  Scotland,  and  the 
want  of  prosperity  in  Ireland,  are  to  be  sought  in  the 
history  of  the  two  countries. 

They  are  thus  clearly  put  by  a  writer  in  the  Dvhlin 
Review :  "  Scotland  has  been  eminently  fortunate.  She 
was  united  with  England  on  equal  terms ;  she  preserved 
her  own  laws,  her  own  courts,  her  own  local  institu- 
tions. Her  manufacturers  competed  on  equal  terms  with 
the  English  trader;  the  capital  of  the  richer  country 
was  placed  freely  at  her  disposal;  under  her  own  free 
laws,  her  educational  system  was  steadily  developed; 
finally  there  were  no  wholesale  confiscations   of  land; 


284  CATHOLIC    CHKISTIANITY 

there  was  no  alien  colony,  no  laws  passed  in  the  interest 
of  a  minority  ;  no  state  Church  established  in  the  interest 
of  a  few. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  all  the  miseries  that  Scotland 
escaped,  were  inflicted  on  Ireland ;  of  all  the  advan- 
tages that  Scotland  possessed,  Ireland  was  deliberately 
and  systematically  deprived.  The  English  rule  was 
firmly  established  in  Ireland,  by  the  wars  of  the  Tudors  ; 
and  from  the  outset,  she  was  governed  in  the  interests  of 
the  English  Colony.  Repeated  confiscations  ruined  the 
native  proprietor,  and  placed  the  land  of  the  country  in 
the  hands  of  men  who  were  really  foreigners,  who  spoke 
not  a  word  of  the  Irish  language,  who  professed  a  strange 
Religion,  who,  in  a  word,  were  an  armed  garrison,  holding 
Ireland  in  their  own  interest.  The  faith  of  Ireland  was 
proscribed,  and  those  who  held  that  faith  were  system- 
atically plundered  and  persecuted.  More  than  once,  they 
took  up  arms  against  this  intolerable  tyranny,  only  to  be 
defeated  and  placed  more  completely  in  the  power  of 
their  Protestant  rulers.  Their  schools  were  destroyed, 
the  laws  were  directed  as  much  against  the  Catholic 
schoolmaster  as  the  Catholic  priest.  Their  trade  was 
destroyed  by  laws  for  the  protection  of  English  commerce 
and  English  manufactures.  An  Irishman  and  a  Catholic 
could  not  have  his  children  educated  in  his  own  country; 
could  only  practise  his  Religion  by  stealth ;  could  not  aspire 
to  any  civil  or  military  dignity ;  could  not  even  have  a 
horse  worth  more  than  ^ve  pounds  in  his  possession." 

There  is  not  a  word  stated  here  that  cannot  be  vouched 
for  by  English  writers  who  are  by  no  means  favorable  to 
Ireland. 

Even  Mr.  Froude's  "  English  in  Ireland  "  will  furnish 
ample  evidence,  that  the  worst  forms  of  protection  were 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  285 

used  to  destroy  Irisli,  to  the  advantage  of  English  trade. 
Lord  Brougham  said  of  the  penal  code,  under  which  the 
fathers  of  the  present  generation  groaned,  "It  was  so 
ingeniously  contrived,  that  an  Irish  Catholic  could  not 
lift  up  his  hand,  without  breaking  it."  Well  did  Ed- 
mund Burke  denounce  it,  as  "  the  most  proper  machine 
ever  invented  by  the  wit  of  man  to  disgrace  a  realm  and 
degrade  a  people  ?" 

Who  that  knows  these  facts  will  attribute  the  differ- 
ence between  Scotland  and  Ireland  to  Religion  ?  In  one 
sense  it  is  true  no  doubt,  that  Religion  was  the  chief  cause 
of  Ireland's  suffering.  The  people  might  have  escaped 
at  least  the  worst  of  this  terrible  persecution,  had  they 
chosen  to  purchase  immunity  from  cruel  wrong  by  shame- 
ful apostacy.  But  they  preferred  to  be  poor  with  Christ, 
rather  than  to  serve  Mammon.  This  is  the  true  reason, 
that,  while  Scotland  flourished  under  the  smiles  of  her 
all-powerful  rulers,  Ireland  became  poor  and  wretched 
under  their  hatred  and  their  frown. 

The  comparison  between  Ulster  and  Connaught  is  most 
misleading,  as  far  as  wealth  is  concerned.  Connaught  is 
naturally  a  wilderness  of  bog  and  mountain,  when  com- 
pared to  fertile  Ulster.  Place  the  most  industrious  race 
on  earth  in  Connaught,  and  a  far  inferior  people  in 
Ulster,  and  the  latter  would,  even  in  a  few  years,  be 
wealthier  and  more  prosperous  in  every  respect. 

People  who,  like  M.  de  Laveleye,  desire  to  work  out 
pet  theories,  find  it  convenient  to  ignore  whatever  tells 
against  them.  Every  reader  of  history  knows  what  is 
meant  by  the  expression  "to  Hell  or  Connaught."  It 
was  the  war-cry,  but  I  can  hardly  call  it  that,  when  the 
defenceless  were  hunted  down  like  wild  beasts :  it  was 
the  exultant  yell  of  the  greedy  followers  of  the  pious 


286  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Cromwell,  borrowed  it  is  said  from  him,  in  Ireland,  when, 
after  driving  out  of  the  country  eighty  thousand  Catholic 
Irishmen,  to  be  shipped  like  cattle,  and  sold  as  slaves  in 
Barbadoes,  the  miserable  remnant  of  the  j&ve-sixths  of  the 
Catholics  who  had  perished,  were  driven  beyond  the 
Shannon  into  Connaught,  there  to  die  of  hunger,  or  sur- 
vive as  they  best  might,  in  the  wild  wastes  of  this  most 
desolate  part  of  Ireland.  "When  these  things  are  conven- 
iently forgotten,  one  may  venture  to  say,  in  spite  of  the 
difference  of  the  means  of  acquiring  wealth  in  the  two 
provinces ;  Ulster  is  rich  because  it  is  Protestant,  and  the 
West  of  Ireland,  poor,  because  it  is  Catholic. 

"  But,"  it  will  be  said,  "  look  to  Switzerland,  and  there 
you  will  find,  amongst  the  very  same  people,  with  the 
same  history,  and  the  same  country,  the  most  striking 
difference  between  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  cantons. 
Here  it  is  not  the  theory  of  a  light-brained  French 
observer  that  is  to  guide  us,  but  the  testimony  of  one 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  subject — Mr.  Hepworth 
Dixon." 

Mr.  Dixon,  in  his  book  on  Switzerland,  tells  us  that 
in  the  very  same  canton,  the  canton  of  Appenzell,  the 
Protestants  are  industrious  and  rich,  while  the  Catholics 
are  lazy,  poor,  ignorant,  living  in  scattered  huts,  meeting 
only  at  Mass,  or  at  their  popular  sports. 

But  what  are  the  facts  ?  This  canton  of  Appenzell  is 
divided  into  the  two  districts  of  Inner  Ehoden,  inhabited 
by  11,900  Catholics,  and  Ausser  Ehoden,  which  has  a 
population  of  46,Y26  Protestants.  The  towns  and  villages 
of  Ausser  Ehoden  stand  in  a  fertile  low-lying  district, 
while  the  Catholics  of  the  other  district,  which  is  moun- 
tainous and  unfit  for  cultivation,  are  a  scattered  race  of 
shepherds.     M.  de  HauUeville,  who  gives  us  this  infor- 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  287 

mation,  went  to  the  spot,  and  carefully  ascertained  the 
causes  of  this  difference,  which  has  been  quoted  with 
conscious  triumph,  by  every  tourist  who  hates  the  old 
Church.  {De  VAmnir  des  Pewples  Catholiques^  par  le 
Baron  de  Haulleville.) 

The  whole  argument,  attempting  to  prove  the  excel- 
lence of  Religion  by  the  worldly  prosperity  of  the  peo- 
ple professing  it,  is  not  only  unchristian,  but  utterly  fal- 
lacious. If  the  thrift  and  industry  of  the  Scotch  are  due 
to  Protestantism,  to  what  shall  we  ascribe  the  enterprise 
and  commerce  of  the  Catholic  republics  of  Venice  and 
Genoa,  during  the  middle  ages,  before  Protestantism  was 
dreamt  of  ? 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  point  is  put  by  the  learned 
Bishop  Spalding,  and  he  presses  it  thus — "  If  England's 
wealth  to-day  comes  from  the  Reformation,  how  shall  we 
account  for  that  of  Spain  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  ?  And  if  the  decline  of  Spain  has  been  brought 
about  by  the  Catholic  faith,  to  what  cause  shall  we  assign 
that  of  Holland,  who  in  the  seventeenth  century  ruled 
the  seas,  and  did  the  carrying  trade  of  Europe  f 

I  remember  once  hearing  a  very  pious  Protestant  who 
had,  after  spending  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  the 
Colony,  paid  a  short  visit  to  England.  He  was  of  course 
eloquent  "  in  season  and  out  of  season,"  in  prayer-meet- 
ing, and  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  in  Grahamstown, 
on  the  piety  and  morality  of  "  the  dear  little  island ;" 
but  words  failed  him,  when  he  attempted  to  describe  her 
worldly  prosperity,  the  fruit,  he  said,  of  her  thoroughly 
Protestant  enlightenment  and  consequent  spirit  of  prog- 
ress. "England,"  he  used  to  falter  out,  is  "the — the 
workshop  of  the  world." 

Had  he  extended  his  travels  beyond  the  Atlantic,  he 


288  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

might  have  learned  that,  in  America,  where  most  of  the 
quondam  Protestant  portion  of  the  population,  tired  of 
hearing  the  praises  of  "  the  pure  and  blessed  Reforma- 
tion," and  not  finding  anything  particularly  wonderful  in 
it  to  suit  their  matter-of-fact  notions,  have  abandoned  it 
for  open  Infidelity,  these  people  have  their  workshops 
too,  and  possess  all  the  thrift  and  industry  and  energy  and 
daring,  supposed  by  the  congregation  to  which  this  old 
gentleman  belonged,  to  be  the  exclusive  property  of  the 
righteous  and  the  elect. 

Thank  goodness,  all  Colonial  home-travellers  are  not 
of  this  stamp.  I  have  met  with  several,  who,  instead  of 
fanning  their  devotion  to  Protestantism  and  their  own 
particular  sect,  with  the  airs  of  insular  conceit,  have  ex- 
tended their  rambles  to  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and 
have  learned  to  respect  the  Catholic  people,  they  were 
taught  to  despise.  They  had  their  wits  about  them,  and 
were  glad  "  to  pick  up  notions,"  wherever  they  found 
them. 

Such  as  these  have  much  to  say  to  their  friends  in  the 
Colony  about  grand  Churches,  and  Cathedrals,  and  pic- 
ture-galleries, and  museums,  and  arts  and  manufactures, 
and  people  gentle  and  polished  in  their  manners,  and  re- 
finement and  politeness  under  the  rough  "  blouse ;"  and 
other  things  of  the  kind,  not  before  "  dreamt  of  in  their 
philosophy." 

Foreign  travel,  in  these  cases,  is  not  without  its  value : 
it  expands  the  mind  and  enlarges  the  heart,  and  disposes 
men  to  beHeve  that,  after  all  they  have  heard  to  the  preju- 
dice of  Catholics,  there  may  be  something  really  good, 
and  worth  knowing,  beyond  the  narrow  compass  of  tlieir 
own  particulai"  place  of  worship.  They  soon  learn  that 
there  are  other  matters  too,  to  be  learned  in  the  highways 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  289 

of  life  beyond  tlie  shop-keeping  and  trading  Philosophy 
— ^that  "time  is  money,"  and  "knowledge  is  wealth," 
and  all  these  other  "  Poor  Ki chard  "  maxims,  which  have 
been  dinned  into  their  ears  from  childhood.  There  is  a 
lesson  to  be  acquired  and  one  worth  retaining,  even  in  a 
passing  visit  to  the  glorious  monuments  of  the  ages  of 
Faith. 

The  grand  old  Cathedrals,  the  vast  but  unpreten- 
tious  hospitals,  and  the  huge  piles  consecrated  to  works 
of  charity,  tell  of  men  who  believed  that  there  were  other 
treasures  to  be  gained  in  this  life,  than  mere  wealth  and 
riches,  which  must  one  day  be  abandoned.  Happy  they, 
who,  at  the  sight  of  what  they  might  at  first  be  tempted 
to  call  prodigality  in  the  Divine  honor,  begin  to  reflect, 
that,  after  all,  we  cannot  do  too  much  to  show  reverence 
and  respect  to  the  great  Being,  who  has  created  us  "  to 
know  and  serve  Him  here  on  earth — that  we  may  be  happy 
wdth  Him  forever  in  Heaven." 

They  cannot  fail,  under  the  influence  of  such  thoughts, 
to  respect  the  motives,  and  the  Religion  of  those,  who 
make  great  sacriflces,  of  what  the  world  most  prizes,  to 
testify  their  ardent  love  for  their  merciful  Redeemer. 
And  the  more  they  think  in  this  way — the  clearer  will  it  ap- 
pear to  them,  that  worldly  prosperity — and  luxury,  and 
grand  equipages,  and  gorgeous  mansions,  and  profuse  ex- 
penditure in  the  gratification  of  self — are  not  certain  and 
positive  proofs  of  the  reality  and  earnestness  of  the  Re- 
ligion of  the  people,  whose  fame  for  such  things  is  ex- 
tolled among  the  nations.  Under  this  outward  show  of 
prosperity,  the  apparent  reward  of  true  merit,  there  are 
often  concealed  sins  of  miserable  selfishness,  that  cry  to 
Heaven  for  vengeance. 

How  pregnant  with  deep  meaning  is  that  sublime  pas- 


290  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

sage  of  St.  Augustine  in  "  The  City  of  God," — commenc- 
ing with  the  words — ''fecerunt  civitates  ditas  amoves 
duoP  It  can  scarcely  be  translated  without  losing  its 
brilliancy — I  can  only  attempt,  feebly  to  paraphrase  it  in 
English.  "  Two  cities  have  been  formed  by  two  different 
kinds  of  love, — the  earthly  city,  by  the  love  of  self,  that 
reaches  even  to  contempt  of  God, — the  heavenly  city,  by 
the  love  of  God,  that  extends  even  to  contempt  of  self  " 
(De  Civitate  Dei,  Lib.  xiv.  c.  17).  One  that,  in  a  thought- 
ful mood,  amid  the  rush  and  roar  of  the  tide  of  life  of 
wealthy  London,  recalls  the  quiet  of  a  continental  town, 
rich  in  the  monuments  of  the  ages  of  Faith,  must  make 
something  like  the  contrast  suggested  by  the  words  of  St. 
Augustine. 

How  fallacious  is  that  test  of  the  genuineness  of  Ee- 
ligion,  which  is  supposed  to  be  found  in  the  prosperity 
of  a  people  !  Apply  it  to  an  individual,  and  can  anything 
equal  its  absurdity  !  Sir  Gorgius  Midas  of  London  is  the 
millionaire  of  millionaires,  therefore  he  is  the  most  holy 
of  the  myriads  that  throng  the  vast  city ! 

And  is  the  wealth  of  a  nation  an  infallible  sign  of  the 
prosperity  of  its  people  ?  England  contains  within  itself 
the  wealthiest  men  in  the  world  ;  are  the  English  peoj)le, 
therefore,  the  most  wealthy  ?  If  a  few  thousand  nobles 
own  all  its  broad  acres,  while  millions  grovel  in  poverty, 
does  this  wealth  of  a  few  constitute  the  prosperity  of  the 
nation  ? 

"  In  England,"  says  Bishop  Spalding,  "  the  pauper  class, 
compared  with  the  whole  population,  is  as  one  to  twenty- 
three.  In  poor  Ireland,  there  is  but  one  pauper  to  ninety 
inhabitants.  In  other  words,  much  as  we  hear  of  England's 
vast  superiority  in  wealth  to  the  sister  island,  pauperism 
is  four  times  more  common  in  England  than  in  Ireland." 


AND    MATERIAL    PROSPERITY.  291 

"  But,"  it  is  said,  "  look  to  the  healthy  life  and  vigor 
of  England,  and  there  you  will  see  what  sturdy  Protes- 
tantism has  made  her, — Protestantism,  not  so  much  in 
itself  as  a  Keligion,  but  as  the  herald  of  Free-thought." 
"The  nations  subject  to  Kome,"  says  M.  de  Lavaleye, 
"  seem  stricken  with  barrenness ;  they  no  longer  colonize, 
they  have  no  power  of  expansion." 

Yes,  no  doubt  England  is  the  great  colonizer  of  the 
day ;  but  is  it  the  national  wealth,  and  her  aspirations 
after  Free-thought,  that  give  her  this  pre-eminence  ?  It 
is,  confessedly,  the  poverty  of  the  masses  in  Great  Brit- 
ain, that  is  filling  the  emigrant  ships,  and  sending  away, 
yearly,  so  many  thousands  from  "  dear  home  and  coun- 
try." 

"  But,"  continues  the  objector,  "  those  who  are  driven 
out  by  hard  necessity,  have  in  them,  thanks  to  the  spirit 
of  freedom,  and  the  right  to  think  for  themselves,  that 
comes  from  the  rejection  of  spiritual  bondage,  the  energy 
and  perseverance  which  have  founded  the  vast  colonial 
empire  of  '  Great  Britain.'  " 

But,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  mother  country 
owes  much,  and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  this  wide  em- 
pire, to  Catholic  enterprise.  In  the  present  day,  how 
many  of  her  colonists  in  Canada,  in  Australia,  Tasmania, 
New  Zealand,  and  the  Cape,  are  Catholic  Irishmen ;  and 
in  the  past,  many  of  her  most  successful  colonies  were 
founded  by  Catholic  France,  and  fell  into  the  hands  of 
England  by  the  chances  of  war. 

Take  Canada  for  instance,  founded  by  the  enterprise 
and  piety  of  Champlain,  and  won  for  England  by  the 
valor  of  Wolfe.  The  people  of  Acadia,  as  painted  by 
Longfellow,  thoroughly  Catholic  in  every  sense,  were  not 
inferior  to  "  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  of  whom  we  hear  so 


292  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

much.  Many  of  the  most  famous  cities  of  Canada  were 
once  humble  Catholic  mission-stations.  The  mission- 
station  of  Hochelaga,  founded  by  a  priest  and  a  few  nuns 
and  workmen,  in  the  autumn  of  1641,  is  now  the  City  of 
Montreal.     I  quote  from  the  Dublin  Review. 

"  The  Catholic  missionaries  have  been  in  the  past  the 
pioneers  of  Catholic  colonization,  in  other  places  besides 
Canada.  The  first  white  man,  who  ever  looked  upon  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi,  was  a  French  Jesuit,  the  Pere 
Marquette.  A  few  years  after,  France  founded  the 
colony  of  Louisiana.  The  colonies  of  Spain,  in  the 
Philippines,  belong  to  the  same  class.  Sir  John  Bow- 
ring  has  spoken  of  the  Jesuits  of  the  Philippines,  as  the 
pioneers  and  the  founders  of  civilization  in  the  great 
Eastern  Archipelago.  India  is  the  chief  gem  of  the  Im- 
perial crown  of  England;  but  there  were  days,  when 
only  the  chance  of  war  decided  who  should  hold  it,  Pro- 
testant England  or  Catholic  France." 

Prussia  is  often  pointed  to,  as  a  flourishing  Protestant 
country,  great  in  power  because  of  her  Protestantism. 
During  the  late  war  with  France,  it  was  chiefly  the  re- 
ligious feeling  that  cooled  the  affection  of  Englishmen 
for  their  faithful  allies  in  the  Crimea,  and  enkindled  their 
sympathy  for  Prussia.  But  one-third  of  the  population 
of  Prussia  is  Catholic;  her  wealthiest  provinces  are 
Catholic.  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  Catholic 
Bavaria,  at  Woerth,  Sedan,  and  on  the  battle-fields  of  the 
Loire,  did  much  to  turn  the  tide  of  success  against 
France. 

"But  look  at  France,  'the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
Church,'  Catholic  France,  see  how  she  has  fallen  back  in 
the  advance  of  nations  !'* 

Yes,  but  is  it  because  she  is  Catholic  ?     On  the  con- 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  293 

trary,  the  more  she  has  yielded  to  the  infatuation  of 
Free-thought,  the  more  she  has  fallen.  Let  France  be 
again  truly  Catholic.  Let  her  abjure  those  silly  fancies, 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  every  one  capable  of  forming 
a  dispassionate  judgment  on  the  point,  are  luring  her  to 
destruction,  and  she  will  again  take  her  high  place  in 
directing  the  destinies  of  the  world. 

But  I  feel  that  I  have  dwelt  too  long  on  ,an  objection, 
which  means  nothing,  when  it  is  thoroughly  examined ; 
and  has  only  an  apparent  force,  because  it  humors  the 
prejudices,  and  self-love  of  those  who  bring  it  forward. 
If  rapid  prosperity,  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  are  a 
sign  of  the  true  Eeligion,  then  the  Buddhism  of  Japan  is 
the  true  Religion  ;  for  where  shall  we  find  a  nation  that  has 
made  such  wonderful,  such  rapid,  and  such  substantial 
progress,  in  our  days,  as  this  empire  of  Japan  ? 

If  it  be  noticed  that  I  have,  in  treating  this  objection, 
seemed  rather  to  argue  with  Protestants  than  u  nbelievers, 
the  reason  is  not  far  to  be  traced.  It  is  not  the  mere 
negative  character  of  Protestantism  that  is  supposed  by 
Free-thinkers  to  influence  the  growth  of  peoples;  it  is 
the  principle  of  rebellion  against  spiritual  authority,  to 
which  Free-thought  owes  its  existence,  that  is  mainly  re- 
garded in  this  question  of  material  progress. 

As  Bishop  Spalding  ably  puts  it.  "  The  unbelievers 
make  common  cause  with  the  Christian  sects,  against  the 
Catholic  Church,  because  the  Church  is  the  only  enemy 
they  fear,  the  only  Christian  body,  which  is  the  faithful 
and  uncompromising  guardian  of  Revelation.  They 
are  partial  to  the  sects,  because,  in  their  workings,  they 
perceive,  as  they  think,  the  breaking  up  and  dissolution 
of  the  whole  Christian  system.  Protestantism  is  valu- 
able in  their  eyes  as  a  stage,  in  what  Herbert  Spencer 


294  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

calls  *the  universal  religious  thaw,'  whicli  is  going  on 
around  us''  ("  Influence  of  Catholicism  and  Protestantism 
on  JS'atioual  Prosperity,"  Spalding's  Essays,  p.  156). 

There  is  one  point,  and  it  is,  in  my  judgment,  the 
most  important  of  all  that  should  be  noticed,  when  we 
consider  the  comparative  influence  of  the  two  Eeligions 
on  the  material  prosperity  of  nations ;  Religion  is  most 
intimately  and  necessarily  connected  with  the  morality 
of  a  people  ;  whether  it  affects  their  wealth  or  not,  has 
no  weight  whatever,  in  view  of  this  essential  element  of 
true  civilization  and  progress.  Wealth  and  progress  are 
transient,  and  more  properly,  the  accidental  accompani- 
ments of  national  prosperity;  but  sound  morality  and 
manly  character  are  the  very  heart's  blood  of  a  nation's 
solid  greatness. 

I  have  already  quoted,  in  the  first  chapter  of  this 
book,  the  remarkable  words  of  M.  Jules  Simon  on  this 
point,  but  they  are  w^orth  repeating  here.  "It  is  not 
the  loss  of  a  battle,  and  the  annihilation  of  all  army,  or  a 
province  torn  away,  that  begins  the  fall  of  a  people :  a 
people  dies  only  by  the  relaxation  of  its  morals,  by 
abandoning  its  manly  habits,  by  the  effacement  of  its 
character  through  the  invasion  of  egoism  and  scepticism. 
It  dies  of  its  corruption.     It  does  not  die  of  its  wounds." 

If  we  apply  statistics  to  that  element  of  morality  which 
constitutes  its  very  "  heart  of  hearts,"  the  purity  of  its 
womanhood  and  the  holiness  of  the  family  tie,  the  con- 
trast between  Cathohc  and  Protestant  countries,  as  shown 
by  "facts  and  figures,"  is  positively  startling,  in  its 
uniformity. 

I  know  it  is  said  that  statistics  may  be  brought  forward 
in  favor  of  any  theory.  But  when  they  are  not  confined 
to  particular  countries,  nor  subjected  to  the  influence  of 


AND   MATERIAL   PROSPERITY.  295 

special  causes,  when  they  are  extended  to  all  countries, 
and  tested,  year  after  year,  under  all  the  varying  condi- 
tions of  social  existence,  and  are  found  to  be  unvaryingly 
constant,  they  are  a  demonstration  beyond  reasonable 
dispute. 

I  mean  to  apply  this  delicate  test  very  briefly;  but 
viewed  however  briefly,  they  are  certainly  most  remark- 
able in  the  evidence  they  furnish  of  the  superior  morality 
of  Catholic  countries.  Take  the  data,  supplied,  by  the 
Registrar-General's  returns,  of  the  proportions  between 
legitimate  and  illegitimate  births  in  England,  Ireland, 
and  Scotland,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  I  am  not  exaggerat- 
ing, when  I  say,  that  the  result  is  marvellously  constant. 
It  is,  on  an  average,  about  the  following. 

In  England,  between  five  and  six  in  every  hundred 
registered  births,  (every  one  knows  the  sort  of  births  that 
are  registered  with  most  regularity,  and  where  the  bal- 
ance of  non-registration  will  incline).  In  Scotland,  the 
most  Protestant  of  the  three  kingdoms,  nine  per  cent, 
and  in  Ireland  between  two  and  three  per  cent. 

And,  as  I  have  compared  Ulster  with  Connaught,  in 
the  matter  of  wealth  and  prosperity,  I  test  them  on  the 
ground  of  morality  as  well ;  and  find  the  same  constant 
result.  West  of  Ireland,  one  and  one  third  per  cent ;  in 
Ulster  between  five  and  six  per  cent. 

From  the  tables  before  me,  I  might  show  that  the  pro- 
portion is  steadily  the  same  throughout  Europe;  the 
countries  that  are  Protestant,  showing,  in  this  respect,  a 
remarkably  higher  average  than  Catholic  countries.  Thus 
in  Saxony,  and  Wurtemberg,  the  average  is  about  sixteen ; 
while,  in  Catholic  Prussia,  it  scarcely  exceeds  six. 

It  is  hard  to  resist  the  conclusion,  that  the  Religion  of 
the  people  is  the  cause  of  the  discrepancy.     In  Catholic 


296      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   PROSPERITY. 

countries,  as  in  France  and  Ireland,  the  most  Catholic 
districts  stand  best  in  the  statistics.  Thus,  while  the  rate 
for  all  France  is  Y.8,  the  rate  for  the  rural  districts, 
which  are  all  Catholic,  is  4.2 ;  for  La  Yendee,  which  is 
remarkable  for  the  earnestness  of  the  Faith  of  its  people, 
2.2 ;  and  for  equally  Catholic  Brittany,  1.2.  In  England, 
the  rural  districts  stand  lowest  in  the  scale  of  morality. 

The  same  holds  good  in  Germany,  the  Catholic  dis- 
tricts are  the  purest ;  Catholic  Westphalia  and  Khineland 
about  3.5 ;  and  Protestant  Pomerania  and  Brandenburg 
10  to  12.  But  for  the  Infidel  corruption  of  Paris,  and 
some  of  the  chief  cities  of  France,  "  the  eldest  daughter 
of  the  Church"  would  still  hold  a  high  rank  in  morality. 

I  believe  this  evidence  is  irresistible,  as  the  rule  holds 
good  throughout.  Hence  I  conclude,  the  impartial 
reader  will  infer,  that  the  old  Church,  protecting  now  as 
ever,  as  far  as  civil  Governments  will  allow  her,  the 
virtue  of  her  children,  by  rigid  and  unyielding  principles, 
beyond  all  other  Beligions,  favors  the  cause  of  real 
healthy  Progress. 

In  the  next  chapter,  I  mean  to  treat  of  a  subject,  which 
has  been  touched  on  before,  the  doctrine  of  "  Exclusive 
Salvation,"  which  perhaps,  more  than  any  other,  by 
misapprehension  or  misrepresentation,  has  excited  bitter 
feehngs  against  Catholic  Christianity. 


CATHOLIC   CHKISTIANITY   AND   SALyATtON.     297 


?^^ 


CHAPTEK  XY. 

Catholic  Christianity  and  Exclusive   Salvation. 

"TF  there  be  one  subject  more  than  another  that  ex- 
-^  cites  hostility  against  the  Catholic  Church,  it  is  her 
doctrine  of  "  Exclusive  Salvation."  "  The  Catholic 
Church,"  says  its  enemies  of  all  creeds  or  of  no  creed,  "  is 
intolerant.  She  condemns  all  who  differ  from  her  to 
eternal  destruction.  This  is  a  patent  fact,"  they  continue, 
"  which  cannot  be  denied  or  glossed  over ;  and  this  fact 
alone  proves,  beyond  doubt,  that  she  forfeits  every  claim 
to  be  the  true  Church  of  Christ.  If  there  is  anything 
really  and  unquestionably  good  in  Revelation,  it  is  the 
spirit  of  charity  and  universal  brotherhood,  which  it  pro- 
fesses to  announce  to  mankind.  All  men  are  irresistibly 
drawn  to  admire  this  noble  principle.  It  is  the  heart  and 
soul  of  natural  Religion:  it  covers,  with  its  splendid 
mantle,  the  errors  and  defects  of  Paganism ;  it  exalts 
every  belief  that  adopts  it,  above  the  contemptible  jar- 
rings  and  inconsistencies  of  sectarian  animosity.  They 
who  worship  Nature,  in  her  simple  grandeur,  aim  chiefly 
at  uniting  all  classes  of  men,  in  their  reverence  and 
affection,  for  these  charms  that  win  without  effort  their 
admiration,  and  the  homage  of  their  hearts.  The  old 
idolatry,  which  cherished  only  the  personification  of 
these  charms,  knew  no  restrictions  over  the  feelings  of 
its  votaries.  Whether  they  worshipped  the  bright  sun, 
or  the  gentle  moon,  or  the  deities  that  were  imagined 
to  preside  over  the  beauties  of  earth,  or  the  fascinations 


298  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

of  liuinan  passion,  it  was  all  tlie  same  to  this  bountiful 
mistress.  Christianity  even,  outside  the  Church,  soon 
learned  to  hate  the  bitter  strife,  which  sprung  from  tlie 
earnestness  and  intensity  of  devotion  to  particular  forms ; 
and  sought  to  harmonize  all  discordant  voices  in  one 
hymn  of  praise  to  the  Author  of  their  salvation.  The 
stern  voice  of  Catholic  Christianity  alone  disturbs  this 
universal  tendency ;  and  loudly  proclaims,  now  as  ever, 
that  there  is  no  peace,  either  here  or  hereafter,  for  those 
who  refuse  to  bow  down,  and  adore  whatever  she  is 
pleased  to  set  up  as  the  object  of  their  reverence  and 
belief." 

I  admit,  without  any  attempt  at  defence,  this  sweeping 
charge.  I  say  it  is  quite  true.  The  Church  does  actually 
teach,  now,  as  ever  since  her  foundation,  that  there  is  but 
one  true  Religion,  one  true  Faith,  and  that  out  of  this 
Religion,  and  without  this  Faith,  "it  is  impossible  to 
please  God." 

But  I  go  further,  and  declare  my  solemn  conviction  to 
be,  that  if  this  were  not  her  teaching,  she  should  cease  to 
be  the  Church  established  by  our  Divine  Lord,  "  as  the 
pillar  and  ground  of  truth."  If  this  be  stigmatized  as 
intolerance,  nevertheless  I  maintain  it  is  the  essential 
characteristic  of  unfailing  truth,  and  of  "Charity  that 
never  falleth  away." 

Though  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  world  have 
associated  all  sorts  of  disagreeable  and  hateful  ideas  with 
this  word — intolerance,  it  is,  after  all,  when  properly 
understood,  the  great  law  of  being  for  everything  that  is 
fixed  and  stable  in  this  world. 

Take  that  great  law  of  gravitation,  which  keeps  the 
vast  universe  together,  which  reaches,  with  mathematical 
precision,  to  the  uttermost  bounds  of  space,  and  holds,  as 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  299 

far  as  we  can  see,  all  created  things  within  its  grasp ;  is 
it  not  intolerant?  Will  it  ever,  even  in  the  minutest 
things  of  earth,  allow  its  principles  to  be  violated  without 
enforcing  the  destruction  of  whatever  attempts  to  defy 
its  government,  or  to  rebel  against  its  power?  Watch 
it  in  the  ordinary  ways  of  life,  attempt  to  build  a  house, 
to  raise  the  most  pigmy  of  structures  with  which  child- 
hood would  amuse  itself,  not  in  defiance  of  this  universal 
law,  nor  in  contempt  of  what  it  teaches,  but  in  simple 
ignorance  of  its  inexorable  rules,  and  the  building  of 
brick,  or  stone,  or  mud,  or  sand,  or  cards,  must  inevitably 
fall  to  pieces. 

Every  law  has  its  sanction :  and  this  sanction  is,  that 
the  violation  of  the  law  brings,  with  its  violation,  the  loss 
of  the  benefit,  which  it  is  meant  to  confer.  The  sanction 
of  the  law  of  gravitation  is  stability:  violate  it  either 
knowingly  or  ignorantly,  and  there  is,  in  the  particular 
instance,  ruin  and  destruction  for  the  object  attempted. 

It  is  the  same  with  all  human  laws.  They  are  meant 
to  secure  the  protection  of  those  subject  to  them.  If 
they  are  violated,  society  suffers,  by  the  loss  of  the  secur- 
ity provided  for  in  the  case :  and  the  individual,  or  those 
who  combine  unlawfully  and  attempt  to  carry  the  object, 
forfeit  the  protection,  and  incur  the  punishment  of  the 
law  that  has  been  outraged.  It  would  in  fact  be  impos- 
sible to  conceive  anything  like  law  in  nature,  or  among 
men,  if  there  were  not  necessarily  involved,  in  the  very 
notion,  what  we  call  intolerance. 

It  is  just  the  same  with  truth.  Error  is  opposed  to 
truth,  and  destroys  the  very  idea  of  truth  ;  and  therefore, 
truth  is  intolerant  of  error.  It  is  silly,  in  the  presence  of 
acknowledged  truth,  to  speak  tolerantly  of  those  follies 
and  fancies,  with  which  men  have  amused  themselves  in 


300  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  days  of  Paganism,  or  with  which  they  trifle  now,  in 
the  attractive  ways  of  sentimental  conventionalities. 
They  can  afford  to  differ,  without  bringing  on  them- 
selves the  consequences  of  outraged  truth,  when  there  is 
no  question  whatever  of  truth  in  reality,  but  only  of  con- 
ceits that  ape  the  truth  and  trifle  with  the  imagination. 

The  old  Komans  could  afford  a  place  in  their  temples 
to  the  Gods  of  the  conquered  nations ;  because  they  had, 
in  their  impiety,  and  love  of  sensuous  pleasure,  and  idola- 
try of  self,  wandered  far  away  from  the  source  of  all 
truth,  and  disported  themselves  amid  the  turbid  waters, 
which  had  escaped  from  the  fountain-head.  One  little 
streamlet  was  as  good  as  another,  why  then  should  they 
trouble  themselves  with  endless  disputes,  when  all  agreed 
that  none  had  exclusive  possession  of  the  clear  water, 
which  alone  could  satisfy  their  wants  ? 

If  we  apply  these  princij)les  to  Eeligion,  it  will  be  evi- 
dent, that  a  Religion  which  is  not  intolerant,  in  the  sense 
I  have  explained,  will  be  no  Keligion  at  all.  For  what  is 
the  meaning  of  Religion,  even  in  its  widest  extent  ?  Is 
it  not  the  means  by  which,  the  relations,  which  should 
exist  between  the  Creator  and  the  creature,  are  main- 
tained ? 

Before  the  advent  of  Christianity,  as  taught  by  our 
Divine  Lord,  all  thoughtful  men  knew  well,  and  felt,  in 
their  own  experience,  that  these  relations  had  been  dis- 
turbed, and  interrupted.  Religion  alone  could  re-estab- 
lish them. 

The  most  hopeful  sign  in  fallen  humanity,  before  the 
coming  of  the  true  light,  was  the  continual  groping  in 
darkness,  after  these  broken  and  lost  links  in  the  great 
chain  of  existence,  between  contingent  beings  and  the 
centre  of  their  existence.     More  hopeful  still  were  the 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  301 

precious  things  that  were  offered  in  sacrifice  to  the  source 
of  life,  conceived  either  in  its  unity  or  in  its  manifold 
attributes,  as  one  God,  or  as  many,  in  the  expectation 
fondly  cherished,  that  a  time  would  come  at  last,  when, 
in  the  dawn  of  the  long-wished-for  light,  the  missing 
links  might  be  found,  and  men  might  be  again  united 
with  the  great  Author  of  their  existence. 

This  is  clearly  the  simplest  notion  that  can  be  given  of 
Religion.  Either  there  is  such  a  thing  in  the  world,  or 
there  is  not.  If  there  is  not,  if  man  must  despair  of  ever 
finding  a  means  whereby  he  may  be  united  to  his  Maker ; 
then  there  is  no  use  in  discussing  what  are  the  necessary 
and  essential  qualities  of  Religion.  If  there  is,  it  would 
be  worse  than  absurd  to  admit  in  this  Religion,  a  prop- 
erty that  is  necessarily  destructive  of  its  very  essence.  If 
it  be  the  way  of  bringing  us  to  God,  then  it  cannot,  at 
the  same  time,  lead  us  away  from  God.  The  right  way 
cannot  be  the  wrong  way.  Therefore,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  true  Religion  must  be  exclusive  and 
intolerant. 

I  do  not,  of  course,  mean  to  say  that  it  must  persecute, 
or  punish  those  who  will  not  submit  to  its  guidance :  but 
it  must  be  intolerant  in  this  sense,  that,  once  it  believes 
itself,  beyond  all  doubt,  to  be  the  way  that  leads  to  God, 
it  must,  as  far  as  it  can,  point  out  the  misleading  charac- 
ters of  every  way  that  diverges  from  it. 

If  men  can  be  saved  without  Religion,  or  reach  God, 
and  the  end  of  their  being  without  any  way  to  guide 
them,  then  one  Religion  is  as  useless  as  another ;  and  we 
may  fall  back  on  the  nothingness  of  Atheism  and  Impiety, 
as  far  as  any  creed  or  form  of  worship  is  concerned. 

To  adopt  the  system  approved  of  by  the  professors  of 
the  "  new  theology,"  we  should,  as  far  as  any  Religion  in 


302  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  true  sense  is  concerned,  give  ourselves  no  concern 
whatever  about  it.  The  simple  and  the  easy  way  to  go 
through  life,  is,  in  this  hypothesis,  to  make  the  most  of 
this  world,  while  we  are  in  it,  and  as  regards  the  life  to 
come,  to  lie  down  comfortably,  on  the  day  of  rest,  and 
smoke  a  quiet  pipe,  as  we  gaze  listlessly  on  the  bright 
skies  above  us,  and  dream  of  bliss,  as  we  are  borne  on 
imperceptibly  to  eternity. 

I  have  seen  this  doleefar  niente  notion  of  Religion  in- 
culcated in  some  book  of  the  Leyden  school,  which  I  was 
told  was  largely  read  on  the  Frontier.  And,  though  its 
easy-going  thoroughness  may  provoke  a  smile,  it  is,  after 
all,  the  only  reasonable  outcome  of  the  fashionable  theory, 
that  one  Religion  is  as  good  as  another :  and  that,  with- 
out giving  ourselves  any  trouble  to  find  out  the  right  way 
that  leads  to  God,  we  may  take  any  path,  which  the  acci- 
dent of  birth,  or  nationality,  or  fortune,  throws  in  our 
way. 

I  can  easily  understand  that  men,  who  fancy  they  do 
not  believe  in  a  personal  God,  and  do  not  consequently 
trouble  themselves  with  misgivings  about  the  account 
they  are  to  render  after  death,  or  who  adopt  "  the  bag 
of  bones"  theory — may  satisfy  their  frivolous  thoughts 
about  Religion  with  this  notion.  But  it  would  seem  in- 
credible, if  it  were  not  the  fact,  that  Christians  could 
possibly  reconcile  their  consciences  to  this  happy-go-lucky 
plan  of  action  for  securing  "  the  one  thing  necessary." 

There  are  very  many  outside  the  Catholic  Church,  in- 
deed I  might  say  the  majority  of  those  who  have  no  dog- 
matic faith,  and  no  fixed  rule  of  morality,  who  affect  to 
reason  thus.  "  All  Christians  believe  that  we  cannot  come 
to  God  except  through  Jesus  Christ.  We  all  believe  in 
our  Divine  Saviour.     It  may  be  that  one  way  of  realizing 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  303 

the  fruits  of  Eedemption  is  shorter,  and  more  direct  than 
another ;  but  all  the  highways  and  by-ways,  offered  by 
different  forms  of  Eeligion,  lead  to  the  same  goal ;  and 
please  God,  we  shall  all,  Christians  of  every  denomina- 
tion, and  perhaps  even  Eoman  Catholics,  meet  in  Heaven." 

What  seems  to  give  this  theory  of  salvation  a  peculiar 
charm,  is  that  it  looks  large,  and  open  to  every  one,  and 
has  no  crooked  and  sharp  ugly  twists  of  intolerance  about 
it. 

But  this  is  not  Eeligion,  even  in  its  plain  and  obvious 
sense ;  roads  that  lead  in  contrary  directions,  and  cross 
each  other  at  right  angles,  cannot  possibly  lead  to  the 
one  point.  Christ  has  said  "  I  am  the  way  and  the  truth, 
and  the  life ;"  " Iso  man  cometh  to  the  Father  but  by 
me"  (John  xiv.  6).  As  the  pious  author  of  the  "  Imita- 
tion" says  on  this  passage  "  sine  via  non  itur,  sine  veri- 
tate  non  cognoscitur,  sine  vita  non  vivitur^^ — without 
the  way,  there  is  no  going  ;  without  the  truth,  there  is  no 
knowing ;  without  the  life,  there  is  no  living  (Imitation, 
Chap.  Ivi.  Book  iii.).  Separated  as  we  are  from  God 
by  the  fall,  we  require  a  certain  way  that  will  lead  to 
Him ;  a  revelation  of  His  truth  to  know  Him,  and  a 
participation  of  the  Divine  life  or  Divine  Grace,  to 
enable  us  to  profit  by  this  truth,  and  to  sustain  us  on  the 
long  and  narrow  way,  "  that  leadeth  to  life"  (Matt.  vii. 
14). 

Above  all,  we  require  a  determined  and  fixed  path, 
which  does  not  insensibly  lead  into  others,  and  which 
always  is  the  right  path,  and  not  the  wrong  one. 

To  say  that  one  Eeligion  is  as  good  as  another,  and  that 
the  thousand  different  ways,  on  which  Christians  of  dif- 
ferent denominations  are  tramping,  will  all  lead  to  the 
one  eternal  life,  is  the  same  thing  as  to  say,  that  all  Ee- 


304  CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

ligions  are  useless.  In  this  system  of  general  and  abso- 
lute toleration,  which  supposes  that  a  man  will  be  saved, 
whether  he  turns  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  whether  he 
goes  forward,  or  gradually  inclines  to  one  side,  until  he 
turns  his  back  on  the  object  towards  which  he  meant  to 
travel,  all  Eeligion,  as  a  road  to  God,  is  completely 
effaced. 

However  confidently  "  the  liberal-minded  "  Protestant 
may  imagine  that  he  has,  by  this  self-destructive  sys- 
tem of  Religion,  shut  out  from  his  belief,  the  notion  of 
anything  like  intolerance,  he  has  by  no  means  got  rid  of 
it.  It  haunts  him,  like  the  ghost  of  the  Religion  he  has 
murdered.  He  must  still,  unless  he  has  renounced 
Christianity  altogether,  maintain,  as  rigidly  as  the  most 
exclusive  Catholic,  that  without  Jesus  Christ,  there  is  no 
salvation. 

Even  the  Deist  too,  must  be  exclusive  and  intolerant ; 
for  unless  he  holds  firmly  that  natural  Religion  and  the 
belief  in  a  personal  God  is  necessary  to  salvation,  he 
would  cease  to  be  a  Deist.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that 
Deists  join  heartily  with  Protestants,  in  this  extravagant 
charge  of  cruel  and  uncharitable  exclusiveness,  against  the 
Catholic  Church  :  for  it  proves  conclusively  that  neither 
one  nor  the  other,  if  they  believe  at  all  in  these  principles 
of  general  toleration,  have  anything  to  distinguish  their 
belief  from  the  nothingness  of  Atheism.  If  Atheism  is 
tolerant  of  all  beliefs,  it  is  at  least  consistent.  It  is  blank 
nothing  in  itself ;  and  cannot  therefore  destroy  what 
never  had  any  real  existence. 

When  will  Christians  clearly  understand  that  belief  in 
Christ  necessarily  involves  faith  in  Him,  as  the  only  way, 
the  only  truth,  the  mily  life  that  leads  to  life  eternal ; 
and  if  it  be   said  by  our  Divine   Lord,   "  This  is  life 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  305 

everlasting,  that  thej  may  know  Thee,  the  only  true 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent"  (John  xvii. 
3),  this  knowledge  necessarily  includes  the  belief  in  all 
things  He  has  taught.  "  Go,"  He  said  to  His  Apostles, 
"and  teach  all  nations,  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you"  (Matt,  xxviii. 
19,  20). 

I  know  it  is  said,  that  intolerance  of  any  kind  is  op- 
posed to  human  liberty. 

But  it  might  as  well  be  argued,  that  the  intolerance  of 
the  civil  law,  which  as  the  embodiment  of  the  natural 
law,  is  the  very  basis  of  human  liberty,  is  destructive  of 
this  liberty.  For  what  is  the  very  essence  of  this  civil 
liberty  ?  It  is  the  power  which  it  gives  to  every  member 
of  the  community,  of  doing  what  he  has  a  right  to  do. 
But  if  this  civil  law  is  not  inflexible  and  intolerant,  what 
becomes  of  this  right  ?  If  the  civil  law  is  not  supreme 
over  all,  it  is  a  nullity.  If  even  the  ruler  of  a  state,  or 
his  representatives,  may  twist  the  law  at  their  caprice, 
there  is  an  end  of  anything  like  individual  right. 

So  it  would  be  with  the  Church,  if  it  were  not  firm 
and  unyielding,  in  the  maintenance  of  the  conditions  of 
salvation.  If  Faith  in  all  the  doctrines  of  Christ  be 
necessary  to  salvation,  then  all  who  desire  to  be  saved, 
must  believe,  either  explicitly  or  implicitly,  these  doc- 
trines. If  the  moral  law  established  by  the  Founder  of 
the  Church  is  to  bind,  it  must  bind  all  who  are  capable 
of  obedience.  There  cannot  be  one  sort  of  morality  for 
this  class,  and  another  for  another.  The  Church,  in  other 
words,  must  be  intolerant,  or  she  will  forfeit  her  Divine 
right  to  rule  us,  and  make  a  mockery  of  our  liberties. 

The  more  inflexible  she  is,  in  preaching  and  teaching 
what  is  right  and  true — for  it  must  be  understood  that, 


306  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITr 

in  speaking  of  intolerance  all  along,  I  am  contending 
only  for  the  intolerance  of  truth  and  right — the  more 
faithfully  and  successfully  will  she  protect  her  children, 
from  the  tyranny  of  error  and  immorality.  This  is  the 
meaning  of  the  words  of  our  Divine  Lord,  addressed  to 
those  He  calls  "  His  disciples  indeed,"  "  You  shall  know 
the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free"  (John  viii. 
32). 

Here  is  a  notion  of  true  liberty,  in  the  eloquent  words 
of  Cardinal  Manning.  "  Liberty  is  not  license ;  liberty 
is  not  the  freedom  of  madmen  ;  liberty  is  not  the  power 
to  do  wrong,  nor  to  believe  falsehood,  nor  to  err  out  of 
the  way  of  justice.  Liberty  means  redemption  from  sin, 
from  falsehood,  from  human  teachers  who  may  err,  and 
therefore  can  mislead.  It  is  redemption  from  all  spiritual 
tyranny  of  man  over  man,  w^ith  all  his  faculties,  his  in- 
tellect, his  heart,  his  will,  his  affections ;  it  is  redemption 
of  the  soul  in  all  its  actions  towards  God,  in  its  obedience, 
ui  its  faith,  in  its  adoration  of  the  Divine  authority  of 
Jesus  Christ,  who  has  purchased  us  with  His  Precious 
Blood,  and  has  folded  us  within  a  Unity  where  falsehood 
cannot  enter,  under  the  Divine  guidance  of  a  Teacher 
who  can  never  err.  Such  is  true  liberty,  and  there  is  no 
other"  ("  Temporal  Glory  of  the  Sacred  Heart,"  Card. 
Manning,  p.  17Y). 

I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  say  so  much  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  dogmatic  or  spiritual  intolerance,  because  the 
subject  is  so  overclouded  by  the  prejudices  of  unbelief, 
and  a  false  Christianity ;  that,  without  this  explanation, 
the  practical  doctrine  of  "  Exclusive  Salvation"  would  be 
misunderstood  even  by  many  Catholics. 

I  come  now  to  the  point  directly,  which  excites  so 
much  odium  against  Catholic  Christianity,  and  to  bring 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  307 

it  out  more  clearly  and  distinctly,  I  will  put  it  before  my 
readers,  somewhat  in  the  form  "of  question  and  answer. 

Is  it  a  dogma  of  the  Catholic  Church  that,  outside  her 
pale,  there  is  no  salvation  ? — I  answer  distinctly — yes  : 
the  Catholic  Church  believes  herself  to  be  the  true  Church 
of  Christ,  and  she  would  stultify  herself  if  she  did  not 
maintain  now,  as  she  has  done  all  days  since  her  founda- 
tion, that  those  who  do  not  belong  to  this  true  Church, 
cannot  possibly  expect  salvation.  The  principles  already 
laid  down,  necessarily,  as  all  intelligent  minds  can  see, 
lead  to  this  conclusion. 

I  will  put  the  question  more  strongly,  that  there  may 
be  no  misunderstanding  on  the  point.  I  will  suppose  it 
said  to  me.  Do  you  believe  that  none  but  members  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  will  be  saved  ?  I  answer,  If 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  you  mean,  as  you  ought 
to  mean,  the  universal  Church  spread  throughout  the 
world,  and  recognizing  the  Pope  of  Rome,  as  the  succes- 
sor of  St.  Peter,  and  the  visible  representative  of  Christ, 
I  believe,  that  none  but  the  members  of  this  Church  can 
expect  salvation. 

I  suppose  the  question  pressed  still  farther.  Do  you 
believe  that  only  those  who  are  known  as  Roman  Catho- 
lics, or  who  are  externally  united  to  this  body  by  belief 
and  profession,  will  obtain  salvation? — I  answer,  I  be- 
lieve nothing  of  the  kind.  As  there  are  many  who  call 
themselves  Roman  Catholics,  and  are  generally  regarded 
as  such,  who  by  their  disobedience  to  the  Church,  by 
their  want  of  Faith,  and  immoral  conduct,  will  be  lost 
eternally ;  so  there  are  many,  very  many,  who,  though 
not  united  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  by  any  exter- 
nal bond  of  union,  are,  by  their  Baptism,  their  sincere 
love  for  God,  their  earnest  desire  to  know  the  truth,  and 


308  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

their  determination  to  embrace  it,  when  known,  at  every 
sacrifice  of  worldly  things, — really  members  of  this  true 
Church.  These  I  believe,  if  they  lead  blameless  lives,  or 
repent  sincerely  of  their  sins,  and  look  for  pardon, 
through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  will  be  saved. 

But  suppose,  it  may  be  said,  they  were  not  baptized  by 
a  Koman  Catholic  priest,  will  this  prevent  their  salva- 
tion ?  I  answer — no :  if  they  have  been  duly  baptized 
by  any  one,  a  Catholic  layman  or  woman,  or  a  Protestant 
minister,  or  a  Protestant  man  not  a  minister,  or  a  Protes- 
tant woman,  or  even  by  a  Jew,  or  an  Infidel,  who,  pour- 
ing water  on  the  head  of  the  person  to  be  baptized,  said 
at  the  same  time,  "  I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  meaning 
seriously  to  perform  a  rite,  considered  necessary  for  salva- 
tion by  the  Catholic  Church,  that  baptism  is  valid.  They 
who  are  baptized  in  this  way,  are  made  members  of  the 
true  Church  of  Christ. 

Here  I  cannot  help  remarking  that  the  expression 
"  the  Church  of  my  baptism"  has  no  meaning  whatever, 
if  the  Church  so  referred  to,  is  not  the  true  Church  of 
Christ.  It  could  have  no  meaning,  for  Christians  who 
understand  the  plain  signification  of  the  words  "One 
Lord,  one  Faith,  one  Baptism"  (Ephes.  iv.  6). 

But  suppose  there  was  no  Baptism  at  all  ?  Then  the 
unfortunate  individual  "  could  not  enter  into  the  King- 
dom of  God  "  (John  iii.  5).  This  is  of  Faith,  and  cannot 
be  denied  without  heresy.  Only  two  cases  are  admitted 
by  the  Catholic  Church,  in  which  actual  Baptism  with 
water  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to  salvation.  The  Bap- 
tism of  blood,  where  one  dies  a  martyr ;  and  the  Baptism 
of  desire,  where  one  desires  to  receive  the  holy  rite,  and 
there  is  no  one  near  to  confer  it. 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  809 

But  mj  supposed  questioner,  will  saj,  Do  you  believe 
that  the  vast  number  of  persons  who  have  not  received 
Baptism,  innocent  children,  natives  of  a  country  not 
Christian,  and  millions  of  others,  for  some  cause  or  other 
not  baptized,  are  condemned  to  eternal  torments  ?  I  an- 
swer. It  is  of  Faith  that  they  cannot  enjoy  the  beatific 
vision,  merited  for  us  by  Christ's  death,  unless  they  re- 
ceive actual  Baptism  of  water,  or  the  Baptism  of  desire, 
or  die  for  Christ's  sake. 

I  may  here  mention,  a  fact  known  to  most  Christians, 
that,  in  the  early  days  of  persecution,  many  Pagan  sol- 
diers, struck  by  the  admirable  constancy  of  the  Christian 
martyrs,  or  the  supernatural  signs  of  Divine  approval,  so 
often  manifested  at  their  martyrdom,  voluntarily  offered 
their  lives  in  testimony  of  their  entire  faith  in  the  God 
of  the  Christians. 

As  regards  infants,  not  baptized  with  water,  they  are 
of  course  incapable  of  the  Baptism  of  desire  ;  they  cannot 
therefore  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God.  But,  as  St. 
Augustine  teaches,  and  as  every  Catholic  may  believe, 
the  fate  of  these  children  in  the  next  life  is  such  a  one, 
that  it  cannot  be  said  of  them — "  it  were  better  they 
were  never  born."  We  may  believe,  that,  although 
they  can  never  see  the  face  of  God,  immortality  is 
in  their  case  a  positive  boon  compared  with  non-exis- 
tence. 

With  regard  to  the  natives  of  a  country  not  Christian, 
who  have  perhaps  never  heard  of  Christ  or  Baptism,  if 
they  live  according  to  the  law  of  nature,  and  are  faithful 
to  the  common  and  sufiicient  grace  given  to  all  men, 
which,  as  I  said,  in  the  chapter  on  Grace,  is  most  prob- 
ably the  gift  of  prayer,  they  by  the  implicit  desire  of 
Baptism,  may  obtain  admittance  into  the  kingdom  of 


310  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

God.  Such  is  tlie  more  sound  and  common  opinion  of 
Theologians. 

As  the  learned  Bourdaloue  says :  "  It  is  well  known 
that  a  pagan,  to  whom  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ  has  never 
been  announced,  will  not  be  judged  by  this  law ;  and  that 
God,  Sovereign  Master  as  He  is  of  all  things,  will  observe 
with  him  this  natural  equity,  and  not  condemn  him  on 
account  of  a  law  which  He  has  never  made  known  to  him. 
This  is  the  doctrine  which  St.  Paul  announces  in  formal 
terms,  when  he  says,  ^Whosoever  have  sinned  without 
the  law,  shall  perish  without  the  law '  "  (Eom.  ii.  12). 

I  vdll  propose  another  question,  which  will  be  the  last 
in  this  delicate  matter.  What  will  be  the  fate,  according 
to  Catholic  doctrine,  of  those  Christians,  who  having 
broken  away  from  the  Church  by  heresy  and  schism,  die 
in  their  errors  ? 

The  answer  is  simple,  they  who  wilfully  separate  from 
the  true  Church,  and  die  actually  separated  from  her  com- 
munion, cannot  expect  salvation.  Their  crime  is  a  great 
one.  It  is  classed  by  St.  Paul  with  the  most  grievous 
sins,  with  "  the  works  of  the  flesh,  fornication,  unclean- 
ness,  immodesty,  luxury,  and  idolatry,  and  even,  murder." 
They  who  make  dissensions  and  sects  .  .  .  "shall  not 
obtain  the  kingdom  of  God"  (GTal.  v.  19,  21).  Obsti- 
nate heretics  are  those  who  refuse  to  hear  the  Church ; 
and  our  Divine  Lord  said  in  reference  to  them,  "  If  such 
a  one  will  not  hear  the  Church,  let  him  be  to  thee  as  the 
heathen  and  the  publican"  (Matt,  xviii.  lY). 

But  it  must  be  remembered,  that  there  is  a  vast  differ- 
ence between  those  who,  by  their  own  act  separate  from 
the  Church,  and  obstinately  refuse  to  obey  her  voice,  and 
those  who  have  the  misfortune  to  be  born  in  a  false  com- 
munion.    If  through  want  of  diligent  inquiry,  when  they 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  311 

are  doubtful  of  their  position ;  if  through  attachment  to 
the  world,  or  place  in  society,  or  friends,  or  their  own 
worldly  interests,  they  give  themselves  no  concern  about 
the  conditions  of  salvation ;  if,  in  a  word,  they  love  even 
those  dearest  to  them  according  to  the  flesh,  more  than 
Jesus  Christ,  they  are,  according  to  the  express  words  of 
our  Divine  Lord,  undeserving  of  the  glory  He  has  merited 
for  us.  "  He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me  ; 
and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter  more  than  me,  is  not 
worthy  of  me"  (Matt.  x.  37). 

There  is  no  greater  enemy  to  the  attainment  of  truth 
than  indifference.  If  a  man  will  say  to  himself,  "  Differ- 
ences of  creed  do  not  concern  me.  I  do  not  want  to  be 
better  than  my  parents.  What  was  good  enough  for 
them,  is  good  enough  for  me.  I  believe  that  they  served 
God  faithfully  according  to  their  lights,  and  died  in  peace 
with  Him.  I  desire  no  more.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  say 
that  they  are  lost.  If  I  changed  my  Religion,  I  would 
pronounce,  by  this  act,  their  condemnation." 

All  such  sentiments  are  directly  opposed  to  the  Chris- 
tian maxim  of  individual  responsibility.  "  Every  one  of 
us  shall  render  account  for  himself  to  God  "  (Rom.  xiv. 
12).  Those  whom  men  most  reverence  may  have  erred 
through  no  fault  of  theirs,  and  so  escape  blame  before 
God.  Their  involuntary  error  will  however  not  excuse 
others  who  have  found  reason  to  doubt  the  security  of 
their  own  position. 

Even  saints  have  erred.  St.  Cyprian  maintained  an 
opinion,  which  was  afterwards  condemned  by  the  voice 
of  the  universal  Church.  He  might  have  been  altogether 
innocent;  but  after  the  decision  of  the  Church,  those 
who.  for  reverence  for  his  virtues,  clung  to  his  error,  were 
justly  regarded  as  heretics.     This  led  the  celebrated  Yin- 


312  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

cent  of  Lerins  to  saj,  "  Absolvuntur  magistri^  condem- 
nantur  discvpidi  " — "  The  masters  are  absolved,  and  the 
disciples  are  condemned"  (Yincent  Lerin,  Commonitor, 
cap.  vi.). 

One  thing  is  quite  certain,  and  it  should  be  answer 
enough  to  all  these  miserable  subterfuges  by  which  men, 
careless  about  "  the  one  thing  necessary,"  seek  to  justify 
supreme  indifference  about  their  eternal  destiny,  and  at 
the  same  time  it  vindicates  from  all  reproach,  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  on  "  Exclusive  Salvation."  "  God  will  ren- 
der to  every  one  according  to  his  works"  (Matt.  xvi.  27), 
and  will  take  account  only  of  our  voluntary  transgres- 
sions. 

There  may  be  many  brought  up  in  false  doctrine,  and 
filled  with  the  strongest  prejudices  against  the  Catholic 
Church, — prejudices  so  inveterate  and  deep-seated,  that 
they  would  rather  doubt  their  own  existence  than  call 
them  into  question.  I  have  myself  spoken  with  many 
converts,  now  earnest  and  holy  priests,  and  they  assured 
me  that,  until  the  light  of  Faith,  through  God's  infinite 
mercy,  beamed  on  their  troubled  souls,  they  conscien- 
tiously believed,  that  it  would  have  been  a  crime  in  them 
to  have  looked  towards  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  for 
help  in  their  distress ;  so  deeply  did  they  consider  her 
sunk  in  corruption.  They  who  have  read  Cardinal  IS^ew- 
man's  "  Apologia"  and  seen  how  long  even  his  giant 
mind  was  held  in  bondage  by  the  belief  that  the  Pope 
was  Antichrist,  can  understand  fully  the  slavery  of  preju- 
dice. 

For  a  considerable  time,  it  may  be,  the  ignorance  of 
men  of  this  class,  who  are  led  astray  from  the  main  point 
by  questions  of  captious  criticism,  may  be,  and  probably 
is,  invincible  :  but  the  moment  the  great  grace  came  and 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  313 

their  eyes  were  opened,  they  sacrificed  all  worldly  pros- 
pects, and  severed  the  closest  ties  that  bound  them  to  the 
Church  of  their  fathers,  and  friends  dear  as  life,  to  join 
"  the  one  fold,"  to  which  all  must  be  brought  who  ear- 
nestly seek  their  eternal  salvation  (John  x.  16). 

There  may  be  very  many  earnest  Christians,  who  never 
receive  so  great  a  grace  as  this,  and  who  live  and  die  in 
invincible  ignorance.  They  would  willingly  lay  down 
their  lives  for  Christ's  sake.  They  hate  sin,  because  it 
displeases  God;  and  they  pray  fervently  for  light  and 
strength  to  do  His  holy  will.  Such  as  these  belong,  as 
St.  Augustine  says,  to  the  soul  of  the  true  Church,  though 
not  externally  united  to  it.  They  will  be  saved,  we  may 
believe,  even  though  it  required  a  miracle  of  Divine 
mercy  to  enable  them  to  fulfil  the  necessary  conditions 
for  salvation.  They  may  be  saved  in  this  way,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  proposition  be  perfectly  true,  and  a 
dogma  of  Catholic  Faith,  that  out  of  the  true  Church 
there  is  no  salvation. 

It  is  not  invincible  ignorance  that  saves  them,  for  this 
is  only  a  valid  excuse  for  an  involuntary  fault ;  but  tlie 
grace  of  Baptism,  and  the  habit  of  Divine  Faith,  infused 
by  this  sacrament,  their  firm  belief  in  all  the  doctrines  of 
Christ,  that,  humanly  speaking,  it  was  possible  for  them 
to  know,  and  their  earnest  desire  to  do  the  will  of  God  in 
all  things.  Invincible  ignorance  will  not  heal  the  wounds 
inflicted  on  their  souls  by  sin  ;  but  sorrow  for  the  love  of 
God,  a  firm  purpose  of  amendment,  and  hope  in  the  infi- 
nite merits  of  the  Eedeemer.  Such  as  these  are  not  here- 
tics or  schismatics ;  they  are  real  members  of  the  one  true 
Church. 

The  eloquent  and  large-hearted  Lacordaire  has  said  of 
these — "  Her  children  (the  Church's)  they  are,  although 


314  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

she  knows  them  not;  for  they  have  been  born  in  her 
womb,  and  still  live  in  her  substance,  as  they  have  sprung 
from  her  fecundity." 

This  is  the  teaching  of  St.  Augustine.  "  We  must  not 
place  in  the  class  of  heretics,"  says  this  great  Saint, 
"  even  those  whose  errors  are  most  pernicious,  provided 
they  do  not  defend  them  obstinately,  especially  if  these 
errors  are  not  the  fruit  of  their  own  presumption,  and 
their  own  rashness  ;  but  rather  inherited  from  the  misfor- 
tune of  their  fathers,  who  allowed  themselves  to  be  led 
astray,  and  who  earnestly  seek  after  truth,  and  are  pre- 
pared to  abandon  their  errors,  as  soon  as  they  perceive 
them"  (St.  Augustine,  Letter  xliii.  to  Galarius). 

If  I  were  asked  to  be  more  definite,  and  to  point  out 
those  who  are  in  good  faith,  and  in  a  state  of  invincible 
ignorance,  whether  they  are  numerous,  whether  such  and 
such  persons,  who,  as  far  as  their  friends  could  see,  died 
in  a  belief  different  from  the  Catholic  Church,  are  lost,  I 
would  say,  as  every  well-instructed  Catholic  must  say,  I 
know  nothing  about  the  fate  of  individuals.  It  is  God 
alone  who  sees  the  secret  of  hearts.  'No  one  can  tell 
what  passes,  at  the  last  moment,  between  the  soul  and 
God.  That  cry  to  God  for  mercy,  which  He  has  made  the 
instinctive  impulse  of  suffering  human  nature,  when  all 
other  hope  has  faded  away ;  and  which  can  spring  from  the 
heart,  when  the  power  of  speech  is  gone,  may  change  the 
eternal  destiny  of  the  expiring  creature.  It  is  certain 
that  judgment  belongs  to  God  alone  ;  and  that  we  dare 
not  say,  of  any  one,  though  his  whole  life  may  have  been 
polluted  with  sin,  that  he  is  lost  for  all  eternity.  "  Who 
art  thou  that  judgest  another  man's  servant  ?  to  his  own 
master  he  standeth  or  falleth  ;  and  he  shall  stand :  for 
God  is  able  to  make  him  stand  "  (Eom.  xiv.  4). 


AND   EXCLUSIVE   SALVATION.  315 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  proclaim  concerning  the 
law  of  salvation — there  is  but  one  true  Faith,  as  there  is 
but  one  Lord,  and  one  Baptism ;  and  without  this  true 
Faith,  "  it  is  impossible  to  please  God :"  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth  not  shall  be  condemned."  If  the  world  regards 
this  as  a  hard  saying,  it  should  remember,  that  it  is  not 
the  word  of  man,  but  the  sovereign  decree  of  Him, 
through  whose  Infinite  mercy  alone,  we  can  hope  for 
eternal  life. 

In  the  next  chapter,  and  before  I  say  something  about 
the  various  "  isms,"  that  amuse  the  fancy  of  the  present 
generation,  I  mean  to  set  forth  briefly  the  principles,  on 
which  Catholic  Christianity  combats  the  objections  so 
flippantly  urged  by  Infidelity  against  the  facts  recorded 
in  the  Old  Testament. 


BIO    CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    ALLEGED 


CHAPTEK  XYI. 

Catholic  Christianity  and  the  Alleged  Errors  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

XT  is  obvious  that,  in  one  short  chapter,  little  can  be 
-^  said  in  reply  to  the  numerous  objections,  which  unbe- 
lief has  at  all  times  urged  against  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Old  and  'New  Testament.  Still,  I  believe,  it  will  not  be 
difficult  to  point  out  the  principles,  on  which  simple 
Faith  can  rest  securely,  in  encountering  all  these  assaults 
of  error. 

As  I  have  already  said,  in  the  commencement  of  this 
book,  most  of  the  infidel  objections  are  of  very  early  date 
in  the  history  of  Catholic  Christianity ;  those  of  the 
present  day  differing  from  the  old  objections  of  Julian, 
Celsus,  Porphyry  and  the  Pagan  Philosophers,  only  in 
this,  that  they  are  either  decked  out  in  a  new  dress,  likely 
to  catch  the  fancy,  and  excite  the  amusement  of  this 
frivolous  age ;  or  supported  by  arguments  derived  from 
scientific  progress,  and  unknown  to  the  early  Christian 
apologists. 

Ridicule  i^  no  doubt  a  potent  weapon  against  any  truth, 
that  is  disagreeable  to  human  nature,  and  which  by  its 
solemn  and  venerable  aspect,  rather  than  its  solid  grounds 
of  persuasion,  appeals  to  our  respect.  When  the  Divine 
wisdom,  incarnate  in  the  person  of  our  Redeemer,  was 
dressed  in  the  garb  of  a  fool,  even  the  majesty  of  His 
patient  silence,  and  His  sublime  meekness,  produced 
little  effect  on  the  courtiers  of  the  proud  monarch,  who, 
out  of  vain  curiosity,  asked  for  a  sign  of  Almighty  power, 


ERRORS   OF  THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  317 

only  that  he  might,  in  his  fancied  superior  wisdom,  deride 
the  folly  of  the  multitudes  who  believed  in  "  the  con- 
temptible ]^azarene." 

"See,"  exclaim  the  leaders  of  Progress,  "how  little 
these  Fathers,  so  long  respected  for  their  learning  by  the 
ignorant  crowds  of  the  dark  ages,  knew  of  the  true  nature 
of  ^  signs  and  wonders,'  who  would  have  bowed  down 
and  worshipped  a  steam-engine,  and  beheld  angelic  spirits 
at  work  in  the  ordinary  operations  of  our  telegraphs  and 
telephones,  and  the  various  applications  of  electricity." 

I  wonder  if  these  eagles  of  physical  science,  who  plume 
themselves  on  the  triumphs  of  patient,  plodding,  inven- 
tive industry,  and  soar  aloft,  in  the  conceit  that  they  are 
the  rulers  of  nature,  ever  think  that,  when  they  exultingly 
point  to  the  material  progress  of  these  latter  times,  and 
regard  themselves  as  the  Gods  of  creation,  that  the  great 
master-minds  of  past  ages  would  only  smile  in  pity, 
were  they  to  witness  the  vast  importance  attached,  by 
men  created  for  eternity,  to  these  trifles.  How  they 
would  wonder — these  giant  intellects,  who  dared  to  fix 
their  penetrating  glance  on  the  bright  sun  of  the  Divine 
nature,  and  to  solve  the  problems  of  Eternal  life,  at  the 
indifference  which  now  prevails  for  the  investigation  of 
these  grand  subjects  which  absorbed  their  own  life-long 
reverence  and  love ! 

There  is  a  thought  that  naturally  strikes  me  here,  and 
it  will  be  a  good  introduction  to  my  subject.  One  of  the 
main  objections  to  the  first  pages  of  Kevelation,  a  very 
favorite  one  too,  as  it  is  supposed,  in  a  special  manner  to 
elevate  "  Humanity"  to  its  proper  throne,  as  the  Divinity 
of  the  cultured  races,  and  the  supreme  ruler  of  N'ature 
and  her  laws,  is  the  short  peiiod  allowed,  by  the  Mosaic 
narrative,  to  the  existence  of  man  upon  this  earth. 


318  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND  THE  ALLEGED 

If  the  long  days  of  creation,  involving  perhaps  myriads 
of  years,  in  the  development  of  the  works  assigned,  by 
the  inspired  writer,  to  each  of  these  periods,  passed 
slowly  along,  uncontrolled  by  Humanity,  what  became 
of  the  Idol  aU  this  time?  The  bare  notion  that  man, 
"  The  lord  and  sovereign  master,"  was  a  mere  nothing, 
not  yet  even  conceived  in  the  womb  of  time,  while  his 
slaves,  in  the  shape  of  the  huge  Behemoths  and  Levia- 
thans, disported  their  happy  lives  away,  is  too  humiliating 
to  be  endured.  Therefore  the  various  ologies,  the  crea- 
tions of  modern  progress,  are  turned  from  their  legiti- 
mate scope — and  pressed  into  the  service  of  the  offended 
"  Deity."  Theories  are  heaped  on  theories,  to  establish, 
the  much  desired,  and  satisfactory  deduction,  that  man 
was  in  his  proper  sphere,  as  Lord  of  the  creation,  whole 
ages,  perhaps  millions  of  years,  before  he  is  introduced 
into  this  world  by  the  writer  of  the  Pentateuch. 

Suppose  we  make  a  great  effort  to  reconcile  the  num- 
erous conflicting  systems  of  Geologists,  each  of  whom 
was  of  course  far  superior  to  Moses,  and  satisfied  with 
the  poor  amount  of  evidence,  that  is  evolved  from  this 
mill  of  learning,  not  excluding  even  "  the  fossilized  hu- 
man skeleton,"  which  some  Geologists  have  the  unkind- 
ness  to  say  was  manufactured,  by  an  enterprising  Ameri- 
can, we  admit  this  great  antiquity  of  the  pre- Adamite 
man,  what  would  follow  ? 

Let  us  reason  on  the  sound  principles  of  analogical 
philosophy,  whatever  we  may  think  of  the  Geological 
"  facts,"  for  mere  theorizing  is  not  reasoning,  and  what 
should  be  our  conclusion  ? 

Granted  that  man  did  live  on  this  earth,  and,  from 
some  secure  cave,  looked  out  on  the  gambols  of  the 
Ichthyosaurus,  and  his  brother  saurians  of  every  degree,  a 


ERRORS   OF  THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  319 

much  hardier  individual,  by  the  way,  than  any  of  the 
genus  homo  of  degenerate  historic  times,  one  who  could 
luxuriate  in  cataracts  of  boiling  water,  and  exult  in  the 
music  of  those  stupendous  convulsions,  the  bare  traces  of 
which  fill  us  with  terror, — what  then  ?  Unless  his  mind 
were  dwarfed,  in  proportion  to  the  development  of  his 
physical  powers,  he  too  must,  on  all  sound  principles  of 
reasoning,  have  progressed  marvellously  in  these  almost 
infinite  periods  of  existence.  What  is  there  in  human 
nature  that  should  have  so  contracted  its  powers  of  ob- 
servation and  experience,  as  absolutely  to  have  rendered 
progress  impossible,  in  these  prehistoric  ages?  These 
triumphs  of  modern  civilization,  steam,  electricity,  mag- 
netism, and  all  these  things  of  which  we  are  so  proud, 
should,  in  the  natural  course  of  things,  have  been  dis- 
covered long  ago.  If  half  a  century  can,  in  these  times, 
change  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  the  ways  and  habits 
of  its  people,  what  immense  progress  should  have  been 
made  in  these  thousands,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  years, 
when  men,  real  men  like  us,  intelligent  beings,  lived  and 
toiled  upon  this  earth!  Yet  there  is  not  the  smallest 
vestige  of  their  labors. 

I  can  easily  fancy  to  myself  the  amusement  of  some 
bright  philosopher  of  progress,  whose  eye  may  be  caught 
by  this  argument,  as  he  positively  revels  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  my  ignorance — "  Look,"  he  will  exclaim,  "  was 
there  ever  such  nonsense  penned  before  ?  Here  is  one 
writing  something,  which  he  expects  will  be  read  by 
people  of  ordinary  intelligence,  and  he  seems  to  know 
absolutely  nothing  of  the  grand  discovery  of  the  age — 
Evolution.  Evolution  explains  at  once  all  this  difficulty. 
You  know,"  he  continues,  addressing  himself  to  some 
disciple,  who  has  shared  his  mirth,  "  the  men  of  these 


320  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   THE   ALLEGED 

early  times  were  not  properly  speaking  men  at  all :  they 
were  human  beings  only  in  the  germ,  mere  animated 
cells,  or  later  on,  shell-fish,  or  swimming  fish,  and  then 
fish  without  tails,  whose  fins  were  being  gradually  devel- 
oped into  arms  and  legs  and  feet,  as  they  fed  on  the 
slimy  shores  of  lakes  and  rivers,  or  in  fact  were  proxi- 
mately connected  with  the  present  species,  in  the  form 
of  apes  and  baboons,  or  what  not." 

The  fatal  answer  however  to  these  extravagant  theories, 
which  remind  us  of  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  applied  by  the 
Apostle  to  the  dreamers  of  his  day — "  senseless  men !" 
(1  Cor.  XV.  36,)  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that,  in  no 
stratum  of  the  earth,  has  there  been  found,  the  fossilized 
remains  of  a  creature  marking,  in  its  formation,  this 
transition.  Any  one  possessed  of  a  glowing  imagination 
may  easily  theorize ;  but  the  most  attractive  theories,  un- 
supported by  a  single  fact,  vanish,  in  the  analysis  of  wak- 
ing reason,  like  "  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  Vision." 

Here  I  would  lay  down  one  safe  principle,  in  dealing 
with  these  fanciful  objections,  which  have  no  foundation 
except  in  the  heated  brains  that  conceive  them.  Until 
some  fact  can  be  demonstrated^  as  against  the  teaching 
recorded  in  the  Bible,  it  is  worse  than  loss  of  time,  to 
give  it  the  least  serious  attention. 

Even,  at  their  best,  the  scientific  teachers  of  irreligion 
can  only  excite  doubts  with  regard  to  any  portion  of  the 
Scripture  narrative.  This  is  the  confession  of  their  great 
oracle,  whom  I  remember  designated,  in  the  "  Old  Relig- 
ion" tract  of  Theology,  as  "  Vaferrimus  Bayle^'' — one  of 
those,  of  whom  it  is  written,  "  I  will  catch  the  wise  in 
their  own  craftiness"  (1  Cor.  iii.  19).  He  says — "  Those 
who  live  in  irreligion  do  nothing  but  doubt.  They  never 
attain  to  certainty.     Even  when  they  are  most  agreed, 


ERRORS   OF  THE  SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  321 

they  create,  in  the  minds  of  their  disciples,  only  doubt. 
It  is  clear  enough,"  he  continues,  "  that  they  who  affect 
in  company  to  combat  the  most  common  truths  of  Kelig- 
ion,  say  much  more  about  it  than  they  think,  Yanity — 
rather  than  conviction,  enters  into  their  disputations. 
They  imagine  that  the  boldness  and  singularity  of  the 
sentiments  they  maintain,  will  secure  for  them  the  repu« 
tation  of  great  minds"  (Diet.,  tom.  i.  p.  561). 

"  Harebrained  and  worthless  men,"  says  De  Mon- 
taigne, "  who  strive  to  be  worse  than  they  really  are"  ! 

Earnest  Christians,  when  they  hear  language  of  the 
kind,  indicated  by  these  writers,  should  remember,  that 
the  holy  cause,  which  is  thus  stupidly  assailed,  is  sus- 
tained by  dogmas,  and  morality,  and  history,  against 
which  nothing  can  be  demonstrated.  They  should  con- 
sider, that  the  admirable  life  and  death  of  the  Author 
of  Christianity  is  sustained  by  the  Divine  wisdom  and 
sanctity  of  its  precepts :  and  that  the  authority  and  sub- 
limity of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  testimony  of  apostolic 
men,  the  blood  of  millions  of  martyrs,  the  accomplish- 
ment of  numerous  prophecies,  the  overwhelming  testi- 
mony of  miracles  incontestably  established,  in  the  face 
of  the  severest  criticism,  the  tradition  of  all  ages,  the 
conversion  of  the  whole  world,  in  spite  of  the  most 
fearful  persecution,  the  perpetuity  of  the  Faith,  not- 
withstanding so  many  heresies  and  schisms,  and  the 
immovable  stability  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  defiance 
of  storms,  that  have  shaken  thrones  to  atoms,  and  con- 
spiracies and  assaults,  that  would  have  upheaved  any 
human  institution,  are  proofs  beyond  all  doubt,  of  the 
supernatural  character  and  constitution  of  the  work  of 
Christ.  When  we  think  of  these  triumphs  over  all  that 
is  great  in  human  estimation,  we  can  but  smile  in  pity  at 


322  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND  THE  ALLEGED 

the  daring  impudence  which  fancies  that,  by  sorry  jests 
and  ridicule  and  blatant  nonsense,  it  can  destroy  "  the 
pillar  and  ground  of  truth,"  against  which,  we  are  as- 
sured, by  the  promise  of  the  God-man,  not  even  the 
powers  of  Hell  shall  ever  prevail. 

The  fiercest  of  these  assaults  are  self-destructive.  We 
have  only  to  marshal  the  sayings  of  men  of  the  same 
camp  against  each  other,  or  to  bring  forward  the  contra- 
dictions of  the  leaders ;  and,  as  the  hosts  of  Sennacherib, 
they  melt  away  like  snow,  "in  the  glance  of  the  Lord." 

Take  for  example,  the  well-known  objection  of  Yol- 
taire  against  the  Pentateuch.  It  might,  regalvanized 
into  life,  be  put  as  popularly  and  as  plausibly  as  if  it 
were  advanced  by  IngersoU,  or  any  of  the  voluble  and 
ready  speakers,  who  appeal  to  an  unthinking  pubuc,  in 
jauntily-got-up  lectures. 

"  Moses,"  it  is  said,  "  wrote  the  Pentateuch,  wrote  it  in 
the  wilderness,  without  pens,  ink,  or  paper,  at  a  time 
when  writing  was  unknown,  and  when  those,  who  had 
the  means  of  perpetuating  their  thoughts,  caused  them  to 
be  inscribed  on  pyramids  of  stone,  in  hieroglyphics,  that 
offer  even  to  the  inost  learned,  the  bare  substance  of 
some  scattered  ideas ;  wrote  all  the  ^ye  books,  which  it 
would  take  one  so  long  only  to  transcribe  into  modern 
language!  But  of  course  it  was  a  miracle!  And  we 
must  imagine  something  superior  to  modern  spiritism, 
no  doubt  angelic  hands,  to  supply  the  writing  materials, 
and  to  act  as  his  amanuenses." 

I  am  not  aware  that  IngersoU  has  ever  put  this  objec- 
tion. But  if  he  did  borrow  the  thought  of  Yoltaire,  as 
he  has  borrowed  so  many  similar  objections,  he  would 
have  put  it  in  something  of  this  style,  but  of  course  much 
more  smartly. 


ERRORS   OF  THE  SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  323 

And  what  is  the  answer  ?  It  is  answered  by  the  ob- 
jector himself.  Voltaire  never  troubles  himself,  when 
he  is  assailing  Religion,  about  palpable  contradictions. 

In  a  book,  called  "  Dieu  et  les  TiommesJ''  Yoltaire  says 
that  a  Phoenician  author,  named  Sanchoniaton,  lived  be- 
fore the  time  of  Moses ;  and  that  this  writer  admits,  that 
he  had  derived  part  of  his  history  from  the  writings  of 
Thot,  who  flourished  eight  hundred  years  before  his 
time ;  and  Yoltaire  adds  naively,  "  This  admission  proves 
that,  eight  hundred  years  before  the  time  of  Sanchoniaton, 
there  were  books  written  by  the  aid  of  the  alphabet." 

So  much  for  this  objection,  which  is  a  fair  specimen 
of  many  others  of  the  same  kind.  "  Some  forty  years 
ago,  it  was  still  deemed  possible  for  critics  of  the  ultra- 
sceptical  school,"  says  a  learned  writer  in  the  Dublin 
Review,  "  to  call  in  question  the  very  existence  of  the 
art  of  writing  in  the  Mosaic  age.  The  adventurous  Yon 
Bohlen,  laid  before  his  readers,  what  he  was  pleased  to 
call,  the  '  latest  results,'  which  the  study  of  Palaeography 
yielded ;  and  with  Yater,  and  Hartmann,  to  support  him, 
boldly  concluded,  that  the  art  was  unknown  to  Moses ; 
and  turned  the  allusions  to  writing,  in  the  Pentateuch, 
against  us,  as  anachronisms  or  '  unfortunate  shps  '  of  the 
author.  Mr.  ISTorton,  in  America,  made  the  same  assump- 
tion one  of  the  grounds  of  his  own  attack. 

"  Yet  to  an  Egyptologist  of  the  present  day,  acquainted 
with  still  'later  results,'  such  scepticism  can  appear 
only  ridiculous." 

I  happen  to  have  in  the  diocesan  library  here,  in 
Grahamstown,  the  celebrated  work  of  Dr.  Smith  on  the 
Book  of  Moses,  and  there,  note  most  interesting  par- 
ticulars, that  should  cover  with  shame,  any  Infidel  writer 
daring  to  make  such  unfounded  assertions. 


324  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE   ALLEGED 

Dr.  Smith  shows  that  the  process  of  writing  is  pic- 
torially  represented  on  a  rock  tomb  of  the  Fourth 
Dynasty  (Moses  lived  in  the  Mneteenth  Dynasty), 
accompanied  with  the  constantly  recurring  hieroglyph 
for  writing,  the  combination  of  reed-pen,  water  vase,  and 
palette.  In  a  papyrus  of  the  time  of  Moses,  Anastasi 
;N'o.  1,  we  have  the  names  of  nine  writers  then  distin- 
guished in  theology,  philosophy,  history,  and  poetry.  At 
the  same  period,  we  find  proofs  that  there  was  a  writer 
of  books  among  the  Kheta,  in  I^orthern  Palestine. 

"  But  the  most  striking  proof  of  the  antiquity  of  writ- 
ing is  found,"  Dr.  Smith  tells  us,  "in  the  fact  that 
Semetic  characters,  signifying  write,  hooh,  ink,  are  com- 
mon to  the  Semetic  people  in  prehistoric  times,  before 
they  broke  up  into  separate  nationalities,  as  Chaldees, 
Syrians,  Hebrews,  Phoenicians,  Arabs,  or  Ethiopians." 

But  how  few  care,  in  these  business-loving  times,  to 
study  a  subject  of  this  kind!  It  is  a  terra  incognita, 
even  for  fairly  educated  people ;  and  hence  there  is  little 
fear  of  being  "  brought  to  book,"  if  a  popular  lecturer  is 
disposed  to  indulge  his  playful  fancy,  in  daring  attacks, 
on  the  Yeracity,  or  Authenticity  of  the  sacred  books. 

It  was  argued  by  Yoltaire,  that  no  such  person  as 
Moses  ever  existed,  pretty  much  in  the  same  way,  but 
not  with  the  same  ability  and  cleverness,  as,  in  later 
times.  Archbishop  Wliately  undertook  to  prove  that 
there  never  existed  the  man  called  N^apoleon  Bonaparte. 

This  would  be  amusing,  if  it  did  no  mischief ;  but 
there  is  so  Httle  taste  for  serious  reading  on  points  of  this 
kind,  and  so  great  a  rage  for  any  theory  that  is  new  and 
startling,  that  if  a  lecturer,  even  in  the  presence  of  a 
numerous  and  select  audience,  prefaces  the  boldest  as- 
sertions against  the  inspiration   or  truth  of  the  Sacred 


ERRORS   OF  THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  SS5 

Scriptures,  with  such  words  as,  "  It  is  now  well  known," 
or  "  It  is  now  admitted  by  all  scholars,"  or  "  It  cannot  be 
denied,"  few  will  be  found  to  question,  or  perhaps  doubt, 
what  is  so  confidently  stated. 

I  will  here  lay  down  another  principle,  which  will  be  a 
safe  guide  for  all  Catholics,  and  for  all  Christians  who 
venerate  "  the  Word  of  God."  It  is  the  principle  of  the 
great  St.  Augustine — "  Ego  vero  Evangelis  non  crederem 
nisi  Trie  commoveret  Ecclesice  auctoritasy  "  I  would  not 
believe  in  the  Gospel  itself,  unless  I  was  moved  thereto 
by  the  authority  of  the  Church." 

It  may  seem  strange  that  I  should  venture  to  recom- 
mend this  principle  to  non-CathoHcs.  But  the  days  are 
gone  by,  when  *'  the  testimony  of  the  Spirit  in  the  soul 
of  the  reader"  and  "  the  inner  witness  of  the  Spirit,"  and 
such  like  pious  expressions,  carry  conviction  to  the  minds 
of  those  who  hear  or  read  what  Biblical  criticism  has  to 
say  about  the  authorship,  or  the  authenticity  of  the  sacred 
Books. 

As  Mallock  puts  it — "  The  Church's  primary  doctrine 
is  her  own  perpetual  infallibility.  She  is  inspired,  she 
declares,  by  the  same  Spirit  that  inspired  the  Bible ;  and 
her  voice  is,  equally  with  the  Bible,  the  voice  of  God." 
Without  the  infallible  authority  of  the  Church,  we  can- 
not know,  with  certainty,  what  is  true  Scripture,  and 
what  is  not ;  nor  catch  the  hidden  inspired  meaning  that 
lies  under  "  the  letter  that  kiUeth."  Those  who  will  not 
hear  the  Church,  may  be  assured,  that  a  time  will  surely 
come,  when  the  bright  and  cheering  prospects  of  their 
fondly  cherished  Faith,  and  the  darling  hopes  that  cheered 
the  weary  paths  of  life,  and  the  glowing  love  for  a  God 
of  infinite  goodness  and  mercy,  which  they  gleaned  from 
the  pages  of  the  Bible,  will  vanish  from  the  minds  of  the 


326  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  ALLEGED 

rising  generation,  like  a  dream,  and  leave  not  a  rack  be- 
hind. Sentimental  Religion  is  too  delicate  a  plant  to 
stand  the  fierce  blasts  of  cold  scepticism.  Religion  must 
be  built  on  a  logical  basis,  or,  in  the  wrestle  of  vigorous 
minds,  it  will  surely  be  overturned ;  and  there  is  no  other 
solid  foundation  than  the  Rock,  indicated  by  our  Divine 
Lord. 

But  whatever  non-Catholics  may  think  of  this,  the  true 
Catholic,  will,  in  every  temptation  to  his  faith,  raised  up 
it  may  be,  as  time  goes  on,  in  appalling  shapes,  by  the 
magic  wand  of  impatient  science,  look  to  the  Church,  and 
confidently  wait  her  infallible  answer  to  the  difficulty  or 
objection,  that,  hailed  by  the  applause  of  an  unbelieving 
world,  may  at  first  startle  his  convictions. 

There  is  another  principle,  which  is  all-important  in 
the  conflict  with  Infidelity,  and  it  is  this,  that  we  must 
never  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  the  Religion  of  the 
Catholic  Church  to-day,  and  the  Religion  of  our  first 
parents,  and  the  Patriarchs  before  the  flood,  are  most  in- 
timately united. 

The  Old  and  'New  Testaments  form  but  part  of  the  one 
great  plan,  before  the  Divine  intelligence.  One  explains 
the  other  ;  the  E'ew  cannot  be  understood  apart  from  the 
Old  ;  and  the  Old  receives  its  perfection  and  accompHsh- 
ment  in  the  New. 

When  Infidels  say  tauntingly — "  Are  we  to  believe 
that  the  wonders  recorded  in  Exodus,  and  the  miracles  of 
the  Pentateuch  were  all  wrought,  for  the  benefit  of  a 
handful  of  people,  inhabiting  a  mere  corner  of  the  world  ?" 
they  display  only  narrowness  of  view,  and  the  blindness 
of  obstinate  prejudice. 

Judea  was  not  a  mere  corner  of  the  world,  when  the 
Jewish  people  existed  as  a  compact  nation.     Yiewing  its 


ERRORS   OF  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES.  327 

position  with  regard  to  the  great  peoples  of  early  times, 
the  Egyptians,  Phoenicians,  Arabians,  Chaldeans,  and 
Assyrians,  it  was,  considering  the  means  of  communica- 
tion then  known,  the  very  theatre  on  which  to  exhibit, 
to  the  whole  world,  the  grand  spectacle  of  the  economy 
of  Divine  Providence,  for  the  salvation  of  mankind. 
The  wonders  wrought  amongst  the  Jewish  people  were 
not  so  much  for  their  sakes ;  but,  as  the  Lord  expressly 
declared  to  Moses,  "  that  I  may  show  my  power  in  thee, 
and  my  name  may  be  spoken  of  throughout  all  the  earth" 
(Exod.  ix.  16). 

This  is  most  strikingly  brought  out  in  the  prophecies 
of  Moses.  He  tells  the  people,  in  his  last  discourse  to 
them,  that,  if  they  are  faithful  to  their  laws,  God  will 
perform,  in  their  behalf,  miracles  like  those  wrought  in 
Egypt :  and  this  we  see  verified,  in  the  wonderful  things 
accomplished  by  Josue,  Sampson,  Gideon,  Ezechias,  etc. 
He  warns  them  of  the  scourges  prepared  for  them,  if 
they  should  rebel.  They  will  be  reduced  to  slavery, 
transported  from  their  country,  and  scattered  over  the 
earth.  How  signally  was  this  fulfilled  in  the  captivity 
of  Babylon !  And  is  it  not  even  now,  manifested  to  all 
eyes.  He  sees  with  prophetic  vision  every  circumstance 
in  their  singular  history,  connected  with  the  great  work 
for  which  they  were  chosen. 

All  this  is  shown  most  distinctly,  in  the  28th  chapter, 
and  concluding  chapters  of  Deuteronomy.  He  tells  them 
they  will  have  a  king  to  rule  over  them,  an  event  which 
came  to  pass  four  hundred  years  after ;  and  in  the  18th 
chapter,  16th  verse,  he  points  out  the  great  event,  with 
which  their  wonderful  history,  as  a  people  and  nation, 
selected  by  the  Almighty,  to  be  the  connecting  bond  be- 
tween the  promise  of  a  Redeemer  to  the  first  of  the  hu- 


328   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   THE   ALLEGED 

man  race,  and  its  accomplisliment  in  the  person  of  the 
long-expected  of  nations.  "  The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise 
up  to  thee  a  Prophet  of  thy  nation  and  of  thy  brethren, 
like  unto  me,  him  thou  shalt  hear"  (Deut.  xviii.  15). 

Moses  appears  at  the  very  time  most  suitable  to  con- 
nect, by  the  history  of  his  people,  the  obscure  begin- 
nings of  the  human  race  with  the  vocation  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  "  to  the  uttermost 
bounds  of  the  earth."  He  is  near  enough  to  the  early 
Patriarchs,  and  to  our  first  parents,  to  gather  up  the 
traditions  of  the  primeval  revelation,  and  the  great  events 
of  the  earliest  history  of  the  human  family. 

Lamech,  father  of  Noe,  had  seen  Adam.  Abraham 
had  lived  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  with  Sem,  the  Son  of 
l^oe.  At  the  death  of  Abraham,  Jacob  was  still  young, 
but  he  was  instructed  by  his  father  Isaac,  who  was  stih 
alive,  when  Jacob  returned  with  his  family  from  Mesopo- 
tamia.  Moses  had  lived  with  his  grandfather  Caath,  who 
had  seen  Jacob  in  Egypt.  So  that  between  Adam  and 
Moses,  -Q.YG  witnesses — Lamech,  Sem,  Abraham,  Jacob  and 
Caath,  bring  down,  without  interruption,  the  traditions 
of  the  first  of  the  human  race  to  Moses. 

What  Moses  received  in  this  way,  he  briefly  narrated. 
There  is  nothing  in  his  record,  that  resembles  the  misty 
and  shadowy  tales  which  obscure  the  early  histories  of 
other  nations.  Events  are  bound  together  with  the  ties 
of  family  descent,  that  could  not  be  mistaken.  The  his- 
tory of  two  thousand  years,  or  from  the  creation  of  man 
to  the  birth  of  Abraham,  is  given  in  eleven  chapters  :  there 
is  no  proHxity,  no  matters  of  trifling  detail,  only  the  great 
events,  which  must  have  stamped  themselves  indelibly  on 
the  memories  of  the  witnesses. 

Moses  does  not  attempt  to  enter  upon  subjects,  that 


ERRORS   OF  THE  SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  329 

form  the  natural  study  for  the  exercise  and  develop- 
ment of  the  intellectual  faculties.  He  was  not  called  by 
God,  and  inspired,  to  teach  us  Geology,  or  natural  his- 
tory, or  astronomy.  These  sciences  men  could  learn  by 
their  own  observation,  and  their  own  reasoning :  but, 
marvellous  to  say,  humanly  speaking,  there  has  not  been 
a  single  fact  clearly  and  unquestionably  demonstrated  by 
Geologists,  or  naturalists,  or  astronomers,  that  contradicts 
one  statement  recorded  in  Genesis. 

There  have  been  theories  almost  without  number,  mostly 
antagonistic  and  self-destroying,  bold  assertions  about  ig- 
norance of  Physical  science  shown  by  Moses,  on  the  part 
of  men  who  seem  never  to  have  studied  profoundly 
any  science.  There  have  been  thousands,  who  affecting 
to  be  savants,  have  sneered  at  the  expressions  of  the  great 
Jewish  prophet,  that  seemed  to  conflict  with  theories  of 
light,  and  the  growth  of  plants,  and  electrical  conditions 
of  the  atmosphere. 

When  these  affectations  of  learning  have  been  carefully 
divested  of  the  pretentious  garb  of  scientific  knowledge, 
and  submitted  to  the  patient  analysis  of  real  Philosophers, 
and  Experts  in  every  branch  of  science,  they  have  invari- 
ably been  found  to  be  stupid  mistakes,  many  of  which 
stood  corrected,  even  by  the  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
meaning  of  words. 

When  the  grand  conception  of  the  writer  of  Genesis 
comes  distinctly  before  our  minds,  one  can  feel  only  pity 
for  such  vain  puerilities.  It  is,  as  though  a  smart  ac- 
countant, acquainted  only  with  figures  and  balance-sheets, 
were  attempting  to  ledgerize  the  conceptions  of  a  pro- 
found Philosopher. 

As  we  trace  the  further  history  of  the  Jewish  people, 
as  one  living  at  the  time  when  Moses  lived,  himself  the 


330  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   THE   ALLEGED 

leader  and  the  guide  of  this  people  emerging  out  of  tribe- 
ship  into  a  nation,  could  alone  write  it ;  as  we  trace  it  fur- 
ther still,  as  he  beheld  it,  b j  the  light  of  the  clear  knowledge 
of  the  future,  vouchsafed  to  him  by  God,  we  understand 
that  the  great  work  before  this  wonderful  man,  was  to 
write  the  history  of  Religion,  and  of  God's  Providence  in 
relation  to  the  whole  human  race. 

He  divides  his  subject  into  three  great  epochs,  the  state 
of  isolated  families  governed  only  by  the  law  of  nature,  and 
the  primeval  revelation ;  then  the  state  of  these  families 
united  together  as  a  people,  and  governed  by  a  written 
law,  and  the  traditions  of  their  forefathers ;  and,  in  fine, 
the  future  of  a  mighty  nation  gathered  from  every  quar- 
ter of  the  globe,  and  bound  together  by  the  closest  bonds 
of  religious  unity,  and  in  the  full  light  of  the  first  reve- 
lation, developed  and  perfected  by  the  teaching  of  the 
Son  of  God, — ^the  great  Prophet  not  only  of  the  Jewish 
people,  but  of  its  brethren  throughout  the  world. 

As  the  plan  so  vast,  and  so  sublime,  rises  before  our 
mental  view,  we  feel  that  it  is  a  conception  too  grand  for 
the  finite  mind  of  man,  and  comprehend,  that  God  alone 
could  conceive  and  effect  it.  Filled  with  these  thoughts 
of  the  mission  and  work  of  the  Jewish  lawgiver,  we  no 
longer  wonder,  that  the  face  of  Moses,  to  whom  this  splen- 
did vision  was  vouchsafed,  shone  even  with  a  ray  of  the 
Divine  light  and  majesty ;  and  learn  to  appreciate  more 
highly  the  genius  of  Michael  Angelo,  who,  in  his  far- 
famed  statue  of  the  Mose,  has  stamped  on  the  marble,  an 
air  of  grandeur  that  awes  the  beholder. 

Yiewed  in  this  way,  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people 
in  their  deliverance  out  of  bondage,  and  in  their  wander- 
ings through  the  wilderness ;  considering  them  as  under 
the  special  guidance  and  government  of  God  for  great 


ERRORS   OF  THE  SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  331 

ends,  the  connecting  bond  between  the  first  Eevelation, 
and  the  last,  must,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  be 
filled  with  supernatural  manifestations. 

The  learned  Bishop  "  of  facts  and  figures,"  who  was 
driven  into  the  wild  theories  of  German  unbelief,  by  the 
simple  reasoning  of  an  untutored  savage,  could  never 
have  realized  to  himseK  the  exalted  mission  and  trust, 
confided  to  the  Jewish  people,  when  God  Himself  guided 
their  steps,  through  his  faithful  servant.  If  he  had,  his 
splendid  abilities  would  have  spumed  with  contempt, 
these  petty  wranglings  about  certain  facts,  that  can  be 
explained  by  so  ordinary  laws  of  nature.  The  deliver- 
ance out  of  Egypt,  which  was  to  symboKze  the  greater 
deliverance  of  mankind  through  Jesus  Christ,  was  effected 
therefore  as  one  would  expect,  with  "  signs  and  wonders" 
that  would  forever  stamp  it  on  the  memories  of  the  race. 

These  mighty  portents,  which  indicated  the  special 
presence  of  the  most  High  in  their  midst,  manifested 
constantly  to  a  whole  people,  celebrated  in  their  national 
songs  and  festivals,  as  long  as  they  remained  a  united 
nation,  and  even  to  the  present  day,  treasured  in  the  grate- 
ful remembrance  of  their  descendants,  scattered  over  the 
whole  earth,  reveal  distinctly  the  supernatural  workings 
of  Divine  Providence,  in  the  deliverance,  preservation, 
and  even  punishments  of  the  Hebrews.  Admit  one 
great  miracle,  such  as  the  last  plague,  which  terrified  the 
hardened  heart  of  Pharao,  or  the  passage  through  the 
waters,  that  swallowed  up  the  Egyptian  king  and  his 
army ;  and  then  the  mysterious  cloud  by  day,  and  the 
pillar  of  fire  by  night,  and  the  appalling  announcement 
of  the  Law  on  Mount  Sinai,  and  the  other  marvellous 
things  recorded  in  Exodus,  are  only  the  outcome  we 
might  expect  from  such  extraordinary  beginnings. 


332   CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   THE   ALLEGED 

If  an  ignorant  savage  could  not  understand  how  so 
many  people  and  their  cattle  could  be  fed  in  the  wilder- 
ness, because  he  knew,  that  the  grass  round  his  kraal, 
would  soon  be  trampled  down  by  his  oxen,  it  was  only 
natural  for  him  to  regard  the  story  as  something  beyond 
belief. 

But  a  Christian  Bishop,  who  was  taught,  I  suppose,  by 
a  pious  mother,  to  trust  in  God,  who  feeds  the  birds  of 
the  air,  and  clothes  the  wild  flowers  of  the  field  in  all 
their  beauty,  and  learned,  in  his  early  Scripture  lessons, 
that  the  same  God  was  pleased  to  rain  down  bread  from 
Heaven,  for  his  people,  whom  He  was  training  for  a 
special  service  in  the  wilderness,  might  have  told  his  in- 
teresting neophyte,  better  things  than  are  to  be  found  in 
the  childish  absurdities,  of  the  now  almost  forgotten 
commentary,  of  Dr.  Paulus. 

This  is  the  fourth  great  principle,  which  believers  in 
Revelation  should  remember,  when  they  are  disturbed 
by  the  sneers  of  unbelief.  The  history  of  the  Hebrew 
people,  while  they  were  governed  immediately  and  di- 
rectly by  God,  is  the  history  of  God's  Providence,  fitting 
them,  notwithstanding  their  perversity,  for  the  fulfilment 
of  a  most  important  part,  in  the  Divine  plan  for  the  sal- 
vation of  all  mankind. 

They  were  indeed  frail  "  earthen  vessels,"  in  which  the 
blessed  light  was  to  be  carried  in  the  midst  of  Pagan 
darkness,  that  it  might,  one  day,  shine  forth  on  a  world 
of  iniquity  with  the  life-giving  "  knowledge  of  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ"  (2  Cor.  iv.  6,  T). 
From  what  Moses  tells  us,  we  know  that  they  were  prone 
to  all  the  horrible  vices  of  the  Pagan  nations  around 
them.  They  were  not  probably  worse  than  these  peoples, 
of  whose  early  history  we  know  so  little.     They  rebelled 


ERRORS   OF  THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  333 

again  and  again,  even  wlien  their  sensual  appetites  were 
enjoying  the  riches  of  God's  bounty.  They  fell  into  the 
lowest  form  of  idolatry,  while  their  hearts  were  still 
quivering  within  them,  at  the  terrors  of  His  manifesta- 
tion on  the  mountain. 

They  might  of  course  rebel,  and  plunge,  as  often  as 
they  pleased,  into  shameful  excesses,  for  they,  like  other 
men,  had  free-will.  But,  for  the  sake  of  others,  for  the 
sake  of  the  whole  human  race,  they  should  be  kept  mind- 
ful of  the  treasure  they  were  destined  to  carry,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  children  of  God,  in  every  age,  to  the  con- 
summation of  the  world. 

When  gratitude  for  miraculous  favors,  rendered  more 
striking  in  the  desolation  of  the  -svilderness,  could  not 
restrain  them  from  crimes,  which  threatened  the  Divine 
gift  with  annihilation,  they  were  subjected  to  severe  but 
salutary  punishment-  Thousands  were  suddenly  cut  o^ff, 
that  the  rest  might  be  terrified  into  obedience.  The  law 
was  no  doubt  rigorous,  wherever  there  was  danger  of 
devil-worship,  and  the  abominations  that  accompanied  it, 
for  had  the  whole  people  sunk  into  this  abyss,  no  evidence 
would  have  been  left  to  future  generations,  who,  in  the 
merciful  designs  of  God,  were  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
Kedemption,  of  the  infinite  value  of  this  gift.  Those 
who  witness,  with  what  facility  whole  nations  slide  into 
unbelief,  notwithstanding  the  irrefragable  testimony  of 
Prophecy,  preserved  by  the  Hebrew  people,  in  favor  of 
the  Divine  origin  of  Christianity,  can  easily  imagine,  how 
wide  would  be  this  desolation,  if  the  "  Wandering  Jew," 
as  Lacordaire  so  fittingly  calls  the  scattered  race,  did  not 
continually  stand  forth,  as  a  witness  to  the  truth,  which 
they  detest.  Therefore,  the  Divine  arm  uplifted,  in  seem- 
ing wrath,  fell  heavily  at  times  on  "  the  chosen  people." 


334  CATHOLIC  CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  ALLEGED 

These  exhibitions  of  the  Divine  anger,  as  we  so  wrongly 
call  them,  are  a  favorite  theme  with  the  enemies  of 
Eevelation.  The  Almighty  is  even  called  "  a  fiend,"  be- 
cause of  the  apparent  severity  attributed  to  Him,  in  the 
Old  Testament. 

Those  who  reason  so,  particularly  in  Free  America, 
should  remember  what  rivers  of  blood  were  opened  in 
that  country,  before  Slavery  could  be  abolished,  and  the 
blessed  gift  of  liberty  secured  for  themselves  and  their 
children. 

And  if  the  fatal  blight  of  Mormonism  should  unhap- 
pily break  through  the  barriers,  which  a  people,  enthusi- 
astically devoted  to  free  institutions,  have  been  forced,  in 
self-defence,  to  form  round  the  Territory  of  Utah,  and 
spreads  and  pollutes  the  land  with  its  foul  impurities, 
would  there  be  no  stern  determined  action  taken  to  check 
its  progress  ?     The  innocent  would  suffer  with  the  guilty. 

It  is  always  so ;  even  when,  as  far  as  human  eye  can 
see,  God  directly  punishes  those  who  dishonor  Him. 
The  wretched  blasphemer,  who  is  suddenly  struck  down 
in  the  moment  of  his  defiance  of  his  Maker,  may  have 
a  fond  wife  who  deplores  his  impiety,  and  little  chil- 
dren, and  others  dependent  on  his  industry  and  bounty. 
In  the  convulsions  of  nature,  when  thousands  are  swept 
away  in  an  instant,  the  young,  and  the  weak  and  help- 
less, and  the  innocent,  perish  with  the  guilty.  Famine, 
War,  and  Pestilence  make  no  distinction  between  their 
victims. 

It  was  so,  no  doubt,  when  the  wicked  among  the  He- 
brews, threatened,  by  their  perversity,  the  happiness  of 
a  future  world  with  destruction.  Had  the  gift  of  Faith 
perished  amongst  them,  and  the  preparation  which  a 
merciful  and  far-seeing  God  was  making  through  them, 


EERORS   OF  THE  SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  335 

for  the  benefit  of  tlie  true  freedom  of  a  whole  world. 


been  frustrated,  how  many  millions  should,  by  the  most 
grievous  fault  of  this  people,  have  sunk  down  hopelessly 
into  the  dark  shadow  of  everlasting  death ! 

When  this  view  of  the  subject  is  calmly  entertained, 
can  any  man  with  real  grasp  of  mind,  seriously  consider 
as  of  any  weight  the  petty  objections  against  the  truth 
of  the  Old  Testament,  often  founded  on  no  other  basis 
than  the  misspelling  of  a  name,  or  the  substitution  of  a 
false  date  for  the  correct  one,  caused  most  probably 
through  the  carelessness  of  a  transcriber  ?  This  hyper- 
criticism,  and  this  pettifogging  play  on  mere  words,  not 
well  understood  in  the  original  language,  or  doubtful 
figures,  and  numbers  in  the  old  manuscripts,  is  absolutely 
contemptible,  and  would  be  best  met,  not  by  the  labori- 
ous erudition  of  a  scholar,  but  with  the  pungent  satire 
of  which  Sheridan  is  so  profuse,  in  the  admirable  play  of 
the  "  Critic." 

Let  these  principles  be  remembered;  and  one  can 
afford  to  rank  amongst  the  curiosities  of  extravagant  lit- 
erature, most  of  the  objections  urged  against  the  Pen- 
tateuch. I  summarize  them  for  the  more  easy  remem- 
brance of  my  readers. 

1st.  No  objection  or  difficulty  against  Sacred  Scripture 
is  worth  heeding,  unless  fairly  and  clearly  demonstrated. 

2d.  In  all  anxieties  of  soul,  excited  by  the  arguments 
of  unbelief,  we  are  to  look  to  the  "  everlasting  Church," 
and  patiently  await  her  answer. 

3d.  When  we  are  annoyed  by  petty,  and  irritating, 
and  stinging  sneers,  and  ridicule  against  our  Faith, 
founded  on  certain  things  recorded  in  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, especially  in  the  Old  Testament,  we  should  rise 
to  higher  and  broader  conceptions  of  the  ways  of  Divine 


336  THE  ALLEGED   ERRORS   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES. 

Providence,  tlian  are  visible  to  these  troublesome  admirers 
of  stupid  profanity. 

4th.  We  should  always  keep  before  our  minds  as  a 
fixed  maxim — that  the  manifest  ways  of  God  are  not 
to  be  measured  and  determined  by  the  ways  of  men ; 
for  "  His  judgments  are  incomprehensible  and  His  ways 
are  unsearchable"  (Kom.  xii.  33). 

These  principles  may  save  unstable  Christians  from 
much  trouble  and  anxiety ;  keep  them  clear  of  dangerous 
society,  and  still  more  dangerous  reading,  and  confirm  in 
them,  God's  most  precious  gift  in  this  world,  an  earnest 
and  lively  Faith  in  everything  that  He  has  revealed. 

In  the  next  chapter,  I  moan  to  examine  some  of  these 
popular  questions,  which  it  is  the  fashion  of  cultured 
"  Progress,"  to  set  up  in  opposition  to  Catholic  Christi- 
anity. 


SOME   POPULAR   "ISMS."  337 


CHAPTEK  XYIL 
Catholic  Christianity  and  some  Popular 

WHEN  I  first  set  before  me  the  plan  of  this  book,  it 
was  my  intention  to  have  given  brief  sketches  of 
the  various  "  isms,"  that  amuse  the  restless  spirit  of  this 
age,  so  fond  of  trifling  with  the  eternal  interests  of  man- 
kind. It  seemed  to  me  then,  that  it  would  be  well  fully 
to  analyze  them,  and  point  out,  in  plain  and  untechnical 
language,  their  glaring  defects. 

But  as  I  thought  the  subject  out,  I  felt  that  this,  as 
far  as  practical  results  were  concerned,  would  be  a  use- 
less task  ;  and  that  it  would  be  much  more  profitable  to 
direct  the  attention  of  my  readers  to  certain  points,  in 
these  fantasies  of  unbelief,  that  seem  most  attractive, — 
points  such  as  can  easily  be  seized  by  ordinary  minds, 
and  which  can  be  briefly  demonstrated  to  be  absolutely 
untenable. 

What  practical  purpose,  for  instance,  could  be  gained 
by  tracing  Pantheism  up  to  Spinoza,  and  pointing  out  the 
metaphysical  subtleties,  by  which  this  hard-headed  Jew, 
evolved  his  system  from  the  Cartesian  philosophy  ? 

Descartes  had,  for  a  while,  charmed  the  thinking  world, 
with  a  philosophy,  that  appeared,  in  its  simplicity,  to 
constitute  the  natural  basis  of  all  certitude.  "  I  think, 
therefore  I  exist,"  and  "  substance  is  that  which  has  no 
need  of  anything  else  to  exist" — are  propositions  which, 
a.t  first  sight,  appear  to  be  almost  self-evident. 

But  any  one  accustomed  to  think,  in  the  real  sense  of 


338  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

thinking,  that  is  to  say,  not  using  the  thoughts  of  others, 
and  merely  giving  them  utterance,  but  drawing  up, 
calmly  and  with  fixed  attention,  ideas  from  the  deep  well 
of  his  individual  consciousness,  will  soon  perceive  how 
ambiguous,  and  consequently  how  flimsy,  are  these  foun- 
dations of  certain  truth. 

It  might  be  interesting  to  a  few,  to  trace  the  connec- 
tion, which  Spinoza  fancied  he  saw  between  individual 
thought,  and  the  great  impersonal  thinking  principle, 
which  appeared  to  him  to  pervade  all  nature. 

This  is  what  is  meant  by  Pantheism  in  its  simplest 
form ;  for  the  object  of  this  philosophy  is  mainly  to 
establish  the  principle,  that,  in  the  beginning  of  all  things, 
there  existed  one  original  substance,  which,  gradually 
developing  itself,  by  its  own  inherent  life  and  energy,  in 
course  of  time,  absorbed  everything  into  itself. 

It  would  be  very  easy  to  fill  whole  chapters  with  the 
speculations  of  those  clever  men,  who,  fascinated  by  the 
charm  of  sharing  in  a  new  creation,  springing  spontane- 
ously from  the  human  mind,  go  on  progressively  from 
the  individual  self-consciousness  of  Descartes,  to  the  fully 
developed  Pantheism  of  to-day.  I  might  show,  for 
example,  the  point  reached  by  Kant,  and  the  pure  ideal- 
ism of  Fichte,  and  the  perfect  abstraction  of  Hegel,  till 
Cousin  perfected  the  theory.  The  path  was  tempting ; 
but  I  could  not  help  saying  to  myself,  cui  hono  f  It  will 
be  quite  enough,  for  ordinary  readers,  to  know  the  out- 
come of  all  this  ingenious  thinking,  as  a  species  of 
Religion,  which,  in  its  present  state  of  elaborate  finish, 
constitutes  the  belief  of  many  men  of  culture. 

It  amounts  to  this,  that  there  is  but  one  substance  in 
the  world,  a  great  oneness,  from  which  all  things  emanate, 
and  to  which  all  things  return :  and,  as  it  is  impossible 


AND   SOME  POPITLAR  '' ISMS.'*  339 

to  conceive  a  simple  oneness  without  mnltipljing  it,  this 
one  substance  goes  on  multiplying  itself,  and  exhibiting 
itself  in  countless  forms  of  diversity,  while  unchanged 
and  unchangeable  in  its  essence,  it  is  always  in  a  state  of 
progress.  If  this  one  substance,  this  vital  essence,  or  this 
Force,  which  Herbert  Spencer,  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury^  for  March,  1884,  calls — "  the  Infinite  and  Eternal 
Energy,"  were  admitted  by  the  Philosophers  of  this 
school,  to  be  the  Personal  God,  distinct  from  created 
things,  and  the  Sovereign  Lord  and  Master  of  all  that 
He  has  made,  then  it  would  be  easy  to  reconcile  Panthe- 
ism with  Catholic  Christianity. 

Admitting  the  existence  of  a  God,  infinite  in  all  His 
attributes,  self-existing,  existing  of  necessity  from  all 
eternity,  "by  whom  all  things  were  made,"  Evolution 
would  then  constitute  a  charming  system  of  unfolding  the 
vast  work  of  creation. 

But  alas !  the  "  Infinite  and  Eternal  Energy"  is,  in  the 
minds  of  Pantheists,  only  a  blind  unconscious  Force :  it 
cannot  know  the  beings  that  emanate  from  its  restless 
energy,  and  is  utterly  incapable  of  caring  for  them,  or 
loving  them.  How  a  thing  like  this,  can  be  supposed  to 
hold  the  place  of  the  Christian  God,  the  Supreme  Om- 
niscient Being,  can  scarcely  be  imagined,  as  a  possible 
conception,  by  beings  gifted  with  reason. 

Still  less  can  it  be  accounted  for,  that  a  senseless  force 
should  seem  to  any  one,  an  improvement  on  the  God  of 
Eevelation,  "  Our  Father,  who  loves,  and  sustains  even 
the  least  things  He  has  made,  and  knows  their  wants,  and 
without  an  effort,  only  by  the  very  nature  of  His  being, 
provides  for  each,  according  to  its  necessities  ;  who  loves 
His  rational  creatures  with  a  love  too  great  to  be  con- 
ceived by  our  finite  minds,  and  sweetly  leads  them,  when 


340  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

they  trust  to  His  guidance,  to  the  enjoyment  of  His  own 
beatitude." 

But  there  are  men,  highly  gifted  men  and  women,  who 
have  brought  themselves  seriously  to  entertain  this  ex- 
travagant theory.  Perhaps  it  is  the  very  fact  of  possess- 
ing rare  intellectual  gifts,  that  has  led  them  into  these 
errors.  We  can  hardly  believe  another  temptation  capa- 
ble of  seducing  those,  who  in  their  refined  tastes,  spurn 
the  low  attractions  of  animal  pleasures,  than  the  fatal 
one,  which  dragged  Lucifer  and  the  rebel  angels,  from 
the  height  of  Heaven,  and  led  our  first  parents  and  their 
offspring  into  misery — Pride,  the  wilful  entertainment 
of  the  thought — "  you  shall  be  as  Gods." 

If  the  majority  of  those,  who  are  thus  led  away  from 
the  true  source  of  their  being,  would  only  admit,  into 
their  darkened  souls,  one  ray  of  that  heavenly  light,  which 
"  enlighteneth  every  man"  of  good- will  "  that  cometh  into 
this  world,"  what  splendid  Catholics  they  would  be! 
They  vehemently  desire  to  rise  above  their  fellows,  with 
a  sort  of  passionate  enthusiasm,  that  is  constantly  aiming 
at  generous  self-sacrifices.  They  are  filled  with  noble 
aspirations;  but  then  they  believe  only  in  their  own 
brave  hearts;  they  will  not  stoop  to  ask  even  Divine 
help;  they  trust  only  in  themselves,  and  in  a  sort  of 
imaginary  self-perfectibility,  that  seems  to  satisfy  their 
ardor ;  and  so  they  are  led  away,  from  the  very  centre  of 
their  being,  in  whose  bosom  alone  there  is  rest  for  the 
weary  spirit. 

There  would  have  been  no  counsel  of  perfection  too 
high  for  the  generous  appreciation  of  such  as  these,  if 
they  only  dwelt,  for  a  moment,  on  the  claims  of  the  Sa- 
vior, to  the  love  of  their  whole  hearts  and  all  their  mind. 
Theirs  would  necessarily  be  an  earnest  Faith.    More  de- 


AND   SOME  POPULAR  "  ISMS."  341 

voted  in  their  singleness  of  purpose  than  "the  young 
man  whom  Jesus  loved,"  thej  would  gladly  have  left 
"  all  things  "  to  follow  Him.  Had  they  only  one  spark 
of  that  humble  docility,  which  makes  us  "fit  for  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven,"  how  that  spark  would  have  glowed 
with  the  fire  which  our  Divine  Lord  came  to  kindle  on 
earth !  It  would  soon  consume  in  them  every  atom  of 
earthly  dross,  and  change  them  into  angels  of  charity. 

How  different  would  be  their  happy  lot  even  in  this 
world  from  what  it  is !  For,  now,  blinded  by  the  wild 
fancies  of  Pantheism,  they  are  no  better  than  beings 
without  hope,  uselessly  wasting  away  their  splendid  gifts 
on  airy  nothings,  and  ever  dashing  themselves  impetu- 
ously against  these  gloomy  barriers  of  Infidelity,  in 
which  they  have  so  foolishly  imprisoned  their  noble 
aspirations. 

One  cannot  read  the  fervid  eloquence  of  such  as  these, 
as  it  is  poured  forth  in  their  writings,  without  feeling 
like  the  slave  Syra,  in  Fabiola,  that  it  would  be  an  act 
most  pleasing  to  God,  to  purchase  their  liberty,  and  a 
place  for  them  in  His  loving  bosom,  by  the  sacrifice  even 
of  one's  own  life. 

What  is  this  Pantheistic  religion  to  them  but  the  mock- 
ing spirit,  which,  whispering  in  their  ears  "  Excelsior,"  is 
ever  luring  them  to  fatal  destruction.  There  are  many 
of  these  really  great  souls,  who,  like  the  rash  penitent  of 
tlie  illustrious  Fenelon,  aim  at  greater  heights  than  even 
Christian  perfection,  and  who  deem  it  selfish  to  care  even 
for  one's  own  eternal  welfare,  when  they  can  promote 
the  happiness  of  others. 

If  we  once  bring  ourselves  to  believe,  that  the  eloquent 
words  which  have  thrilled  the  hearts  of  so  many  who  pity 
them,  are  the  genuine  expression  of  real  sentiments,  what 


343  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

I  say  of  tlie  highly  cultured  of  this  class  of  unbelievers, 
will  not  appear  in  the  least  overstrained  or  exaggerated. 
Take  for  example  these  verses  of  George  Eliot — quoted 
by  Mallock. 

**  Oh  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible 
Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 
In  lives  made  happy  by  their  presence.     So 
To  live  is  heaven 

"May  I  reach 
That  purest  heaven,  and  be  to  other  souls 
That  cup  of  strength  in  some  great  agony, 
Enkindle  generous  ardor,  feel  pure  love, 
Beget  the  smiles  that  have  no  cruelty. 
Be  the  sweet  presence  of  a  good  diffused, 
And  in  diffusion  ever  more  intense; 
So  shall  I  join  that  choir  invisible 
Whose  music  is  the  gladness  of  the  world." 

"  Here,"  as  Mallock  says,  "  is  hope,  ardor,  sympathy, 
and  resolution,  enough  and  to  spare."  But  what  is  this 
hope?  What  is  the  aim  and  object  of  all  this  ardor? 
Alas !  there  is  no  definite  object ;  all  is  vague,  transitory, 
unreal,  as  is  that  love  of  the  neighbor,  which  is  not 
founded  on  the  love  of  the  Personal  God. 

To  such  as  these  however,  dazzled  as  they  are  by  the 
glory  of  a  humanity  perfectible  in  itself, — "  a  substance," 
which  in  the  words  of  Spinoza,  *  *  has  no  need  of  anything 
to  exist"  (not  even  of  God),  the  words  of  Uncreated  Wis- 
dom— ^'Unless  you  become  as  little  children  you  shall 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven"  (Matt,  xviii.  3) — 
are  simple  folly.  To  be  converted  from  Gods  to  what  is 
weakest,  physically  and  mentally,  in  the  world,  would 
seem  to  them  utter  degradation.  But  our  Divine  Lord, 
in  this  passage,  so  dear  to  every  earnest  Christian,  is  not 


AND   SOME   POPULAR   "  ISMS."  343 

speaking  of  the  deprivation  of  personal  gifts,  whicli  tlie 
Ladj  Fabiola  imagined  might  be  taken  from  her,  when 
she  became  a  child  of  God  in  Baptism.  He  is  pointing 
ont,  in  the  little  child,  only  that  absolute  ignorance  of 
worldly  greatness,  which  is  the  chief  characteristic  of 
happy  childhood ;  and  that  unfeigned  humility,  which  is 
the  real  charm,  even  in  the  eyes  of  men,  of  every  human 
perfection. 

As  a  rule.  Pantheists  of  this  cultured  class  do  not  de- 
spise or  abuse  Catholic  Christianity.  They  admit  that  it 
is  very  good,  as  far  as  it  goes.  They  only  complain  that 
it  does  not  go  far  enough  to  satisfy  their  aspirations ;  and 
that  its  claims  are  opposed  to  the  rights  of  ennobled  Hu- 
manity. It  is  worth  remarking  that  Cousin,  the  master- 
mind, who  is  regarded  as  the  man  who  gave  the  last  pol- 
ish to  this  fashionable  creed,  flung  it  from  him,  towards 
the  close  of  his  life,  with  loathing  and  disgust ;  and  en- 
deavored to  repair  the  scandal  he  had  given,  in  his  Pan- 
theistic writings,  by  attending  regularly  at  daily  Mass, 
and  frequently  approaching  the  sacraments. 

I  pass  on  to  another  kind  of  popular  unbelief,  much 
more  common  than  Pantheism.  This  is  what  is  called 
Materialism,  or  Positivism. 

Although  it  might  be  considered  the  antithesis  of 
Pantheism,  it  is,  like  all  the  other  "  isms"  of  the  day, 
the  worship,  under  another  form,  of  Humanity.  The 
distinctive  feature  of  Materialism  is,  that  it  ignores  any- 
thing like  a  dual  nature  in  man.  While  Pantheists  exalt 
the  aspirations  of  mind  and  thought,  to  heights  beyond 
the  reach  of  unaided  human  nature,  and  scarcely  give 
themselves  time  to  analyze  the  source  whence  these  ex- 
alted sentiments  spring,  the  modern  Materialists,  like  the 
"hogs"   of  the  school  of  Epicurus,  love  to  wallow  in 


344  CATHOLIC  Christianity 

sensuality.  They,  unlike  the  Pagans  of  this  sect,  who 
believed  in  a  sort  of  immortality,  for  even  the  voluptuous 
Horace  says,  '^ non  omnis  moriar^'^  "my  whole  being 
shall  not  perish,"  maintain,  that  all  that  concerns  the  in- 
dividual man  ends  with  death. 

They  will  not  even  believe  that  death  is  a  sleep,  an 
eternal  sleep  ;  for  by  admitting  this,  they  might  be  led, 
like  Hamlet  in  the  play,  to  question  the  possibility  of  a 
troubled  dream.  They  are  determined  not  "  to  puzzle 
the  will "  "  with  the  dread  of  something  after  death." 
This  is  what  I  have  called,  a  few  times,  "  the  bag  of 
bones  theory ;"  or  that  belief  which  tells  its  votaries,  that 
when  they  die,  and  the  body  returns  to  dust,  there  is  a 
complete  end  of  the  human  being ;  not  simply  the  loss 
of  individuality,  by  a  reabsorption  of  the  living  principle 
into  the  one  universal  substance,  but  annihilation  pure 
and  simple. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe,  that  there  can  be  earnest 
materialists.  It  is  almost  as  difficult  for  a  serious  thinker 
to  realize  this  to  himself,  as  the  existence  of  a  real 
Atheist.  One  can  understand,  that  a  low,  ignorant 
sensualist,  a  drunken  sottish  Kaffir,  or  Hottentot,  might 
quietly  rest  in  this  mud  of  unbelief  ;  but  not  a  man  cap- 
able of  thinking  and  reasoning. 

I  remember,  once,  on  a  journey,  pointing  out  to  the 
native  driver,  a  dead  ox,  that  lay  by  the  roadside,  and  I 
said  to  this  man,  who,  I  knew  was  always  on  the  look-out 
for  what  he  called  "  a  chance," — that  is  an  opportunity  of 
indulging  heavily  in  Cape  brandy,  "  When  you  die,  will 
it  be  all  over  with  you,  like  that  dead  beast  ?"  He  re- 
plied, "  Yah,  Baas,  I  think  so."  And  when  I  spoke  to 
him  of  the  soul,  and  the  spirit,  and  seat  of  life  within 
him,  he  merely  laughed,  and  said  that  he  believed  white 


AND   SOME  POPULAR   "  ISMS."  345 

people  spoke  of  such  things ;   but,  for  his  part,  he  had 
never  seen  anything  of  the  kind. 

Stupid  as  was  the  reply,  it  seems  to  me  far  more  ex- 
cusable, than  the  assertion  of  an  educated  man,  the  child 
perhaps  of  Christian  parents,  or  it  may  be  once  himself 
a  Christian,  who  would  say,  "  When  I  die  there  will  be, 
as  surely  an  end  of  me,  as  of  the  flower  that  dies  in  the 
garden." 

According  to  the  Materialist,  who  to  quiet  the  re- 
proaches of  conscience,  and  to  pursue  the  gratification  of 
his  passions,  has  coached  himself  up,  so  far  in  Infidel 
reading,  as  to  make  himself,  "  a  poor  imitation  of  polish- 
ed ungodliness,"  there  is  no  such  thing  as  spirit  or  soul, 
distinct  from  the  body.  He  will  say,  spouting  most 
probably  the  words  of  some  fashionable  Infidel  writer, 
*'  The  grand  discovery  of  modern  times  is  '  Osmosis.' 
You  know,"  he  will  continue,  in  a  dogmatic  strain,  as  if 
he  were  about  shedding  a  ray  of  light  on  the  darkness  of 
your  understanding,  and  dispelling  the  shadows  of  un- 
pleasant and  disturbing  thoughts, — "  Osmosis  means  that 
man  is  only  an  aggregate  of  cells :  the  wiU  and  all  that,  is 
but  the  succession  of  cellular  vibrations  ;  and  the  action  of 
the  mind,  as  it  is  called,  is  only  the  combination  of  brain 
waves,  as  they  pass  over  the  delicate  nerves,  and  brain 
tissue.  Of  course,  you  know  that  '  we  are  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,'  and  in  fact,  we  have  not  yet  reached, 
in  our  most  delicate  instruments,  anything  like  that 
splendidly  assorted  combination,  which  natural  develop- 
ment has  effected  in  the  organs  of  sense ;  but  we  are  so 
rapidly  coming  to  that  point,  that  by  and  by,  illustra- 
tions taken  from  the  most  perfect  telephone,  or  even 
musical  instrument,  will  bring  the  matter  clearly  before 
you.     But  something  in  the  same  way  as  the  sound  of 


346  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  voice,  or  the  most  delicate  touch  will  cause  these 
exquisitely  fine  vibrations,  in  the  same  way,  sensations 
excite  vibrations  on  the  highly  sensitive  nerve  centres, 
and  thus  we  come  to  feel,  and  think,  and  reason. 

"  Of  course,"  he  will  continue,  "  You  never  imagined 
that  animals  had  what  they  call  souls  :  yet  you  see  they 
have  reason.  What  is  called  instinct  is  in  reahty  exactly 
the  same  in  hind  as  reason.  And  then  perhaps,  he 
launches  out  into  proofs  and  illustrations,  commencing 
with — '  I  had  a  dog  once  ;'  or  '  I  knew  a  man  who  had 
a  pet  monkey'  or  a  'pet  canary,'  and  these  creatures 
did  so  and  so, — fully  and  perfectly  reasoned  just  as  a 
human  being,  not  so  perfectly  of  course,  because  they 
had  not  acquired  the  same  perfect  organization." 

This  is  generally  speaking,  the  style  of  philosophizing 
of  the  young  Materialists,  that  one  meets  so  frequently 
nowadays.  A  little  real  Philosophy  will  sweep  away  at 
once  all  this  mystified  jargon,  even  though  supported  by 
the  authority  of  great  names. 

There  is  no  use  in  entering  deeply  into  the  question 
with  those,  who  seem  to  consider,  that  they  have  summed 
up  all  that  can  be  said  against  the  existence  of  spirit,  when 
they  argue — whoever  saw,  or  heard,  or  smelt  a  spirit,  or 
could  tell  us  anything  about  its  shape,  and  color,  or  what 
it  is  like  ? 

When  they  affect  to  be  satisfied  with  this  peculiar  sort 
of  metaphysical  reasoning,  we  can  only  say  that,  consid- 
ering their  opportunities,  they  are  much  lower  in  the 
scale  of  intellectual  activity,  than  the  native  to  whom  I 
have  just,  alluded.  The  poor  fellow  argued  straight- 
forwardly on  the  only  data  he  ever  had  for  forming  a 
conclusion.  He  knew  all  about  a  splint,  or  a  spavined 
horse,  when  he  saw  certain  indications,  or  could  even  feel, 


AND   SOME  POPULAR   "  ISMS."  347 

in  his  sensitive  bridle-hand,  thongh  he  saw  nothing  amiss, 
that  there  was  something  wrong  with  the  reins  or  har- 
ness, but  spiritual  essence  was  beyond  his  comprehension. 

Hence,  there  is  not  much  use  in  establishing  the  exist- 
ence of  spirit  and  soul  as  distinct  from  body.  It  will 
suffice  to  give  the  rudimentary  principles  of  sound  phi- 
losophy. We  say  the  soul  is  distinct  from  the  body,  not 
because  we  rest  on  the  testimony  of  sense,  which  can 
certify  nothing  on  a  subject  altogether  beyond  its  pow- 
ers ;  but  on  the  evidence  of  reason  only,  where  there  is 
no  appeal  to  Eevelation. 

The  mind  has  the  power  of  forming  abstract  ideas,  and 
the  power  of  generalizing :  and  this  is  absolutely  beyond 
the  reach  of  matter,  however  attenuated,  and  brought 
towards  the  confines  of  spirit.  The  instinct  of  a  brute 
animal,  whatever  instinct  may  be,  can  receive  a  certain 
impression,  and  retain  it  even  for  a  long  time,  and  thus 
remember  it,  just  as  a  scene  described  to  us,  can  be,  as  it 
were  painted  on  the  memory.  The  scene  had  a  real 
existence,  and  therefore  it  can,  in  some  way,  be  received 
by  a  material  substance,  as  a  picture  can  be  stamped  on 
the  sensitive  collodion  surface  of  a  plate  in  the  camera. 

But  an  abstraction,  the  putting  of  mere  thoughts 
together,  and  the  conclusion  deduced  from  them,  can- 
not be  so  impressed  on  any  material  substance ;  be- 
cause there  is  no  existing  substance  that  can  be  copied. 
Thought  is  something,  that  no  camera,  however  delicately 
constructed,  can  conceivably  seize,  and  transfer,  by  any 
medium,  to  the  sensitive  plate.  If  men  gifted  with  ex- 
traordinary powers  of  observation,  like  those  who  profess 
to  distinguish  the  vowel  and  consonant  sounds  in  the 
mewing  of  a  cat,  succeed  in  demonstrating  marvellous 
powers  of  observation  in  domestic  animals,  this  only 


348  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

would  prove  that  there  is  a  faculty  in  these  creatures,  far 
beyond  anything  conceived  by  Materialists ;  but  the 
power  of  generalizing,  and  combining  abstract  thoughts, 
is  completely  beyond  the  capabilities  of  mere  matter. 

To  effect  this,  matter  should  be  a  thing  divested  of 
parts,  and  superior,  in  its  form,,  to  thought  itself.  Who 
will  attempt  to  divide  a  simple  thought,  as  the  Copula 
that  unites  premises  and  conclusion,  into  parts,  so  as,  by 
any  stretch  of  imagination,  to  divide  into  halves  and  quar- 
ters, that  which  is  simphcity  itself  ?  Matter  is  essentially 
sluggish,  and  divisible,  and  cannot  therefore  adapt  itself 
to  receive  and  combine,  what  is,  in  its  very  nature,  more 
rapid  than  the  lightning,  which  appears  and  is  gone,  be- 
fore the  most  perfect  articulation  can  bear  testimony  to 
its  existence. 

Evidently  the  substance,  which  can,  more  quickly  than 
any  conceivable  motion,  arrange  the  evanescent  thoughts, 
must  be  a  substance  perfectly  simple  in  itself,  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  anything  material. 

Contradictions  cannot  coexist  in  matter  ;  a  bar  of  iron 
cannot  be  red  hot  and  icy  cold  at  the  same  instant.  Yet 
there  is  no  more  common  operation,  in  the  mind  of  even 
the  most  uneducated  of  the  human  race,  than  the  coexist- 
ence of  thoughts  which  are  perfectly  antagonistic. 

Take  the  case  of  a  perplexed  juryman  who  has  simply 
to  say  yes  or  no  to  a  certain  proposition,  on  which  life 
or  lives  depend.  The  antagonistic  elements  are  there, 
face  to  face,  equal,  for  the  time  at  least,  in  their  opposing 
power.  In  any  material  substance,  such  forces  should,  by 
one  of  the  first  laws  of  nature,  destroy  each  other :  yet 
they  subsist  together  in  the  mind  of  the  juror ;  and  may 
subsist  even,  when,  under  the  pressure  of  peculiar  circum- 
stances, he  has  dehvered  his  ill-considered  verdict. 


AND   SOME   POPULAR   "  ISMS."  349 

Take  another  familiar  illustration  ;  the  good  Templar, 
or  strict  Teetotaller,  is  sorely  pressed  by  thirst ;  there  is 
nothing  to  satisfy  this  almost  irresistible  longing  of  nature, 
but  a  glass  of  alcoholic  spirit.  Yet  the  mind  bravely  re- 
sists the  pressure,  because  it  feels  a  paramount  sense  of 
duty. 

Can  any  Materialist  ever  imagine,  that  a  day  will  come, 
when  matter,  in  any  shape  or  form,  will  evidence  this 
mental  struggle,  in  the  shape  of  a  picture  cognizable  by 
sense  ? 

Of  course,  in  a  book  like  this,  it  would  be  altogether 
out  of  place  to  pile  up  metaphysical  arguments.  He  who 
runs  may  read,  if  he  have  ordinary  capacity^  in  what  1 
have  said,  that  Materialism  as  a  Keligion  or  a  comfort 
to  distressed  consciences,  is  a  thing  not  to  be  dreamt  of 
by  beings  gifted  with  intelligence. 

If  we  rise  above  the  nature  of  man,  and  his  religious 
wants,  in  connection  with  materialistic  theories,  and  con- 
sider its  speculations  about  the  first  cause,  in  the  chance 
formation  of  atoms  in  the  protoplasm,  the  eternal  com- 
bining, and  breaking  up  of  cells,  under  the  influence  of 
an  unconscious  and  unintelligent  energy,  and  all  the  non- 
sense that  has  been  formulated  under  the  name  of 
Philosophy,  to  account  for  the  origin  of  things,  the  answer 
it  seems  to  me,  is  best  found  in  the  well-known  lines  of 
the  Poet. 

"  How  should  matter  occupy  a  charge. 
Dull  as  it  is,  and  satisfy  a  law, 
So  vast  in  its  demands,  unless  impelled 
To  ceaseless  service  by  a  ceaseless  force 
And  under  pressure  of  some  conscious  cause? 
The  Lord  of  all,  Himself  through  all  diffused, 
Sustains,  and  is  the  life  of  all  that  lives. 
Nature  is  but  a  name  for  an  effect, 


350  CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Whose  cause  is  God.     He  feeds  the  secret  fire 
By  which  tlie  miglity  process  is  maintained. 
Wlio  sleeps  not,  is  not  weary;  in  whose  sight 
Slow  circling  ages  are  as  transient  days; 
Whose  work  is  without  labor;  whose  designs 
No  flaw  deforms,  no  difficulty  thwarts; 
And  whose  beneficence  no  charge  exhausts." 

CowPER,  "The  Task." 

The  late  Lord  Beaconsfield  well  summed  up,  in  a  few 
lines,  all  that  common-sense  cares  to  say  about  the  wild 
dreams  of  Atheism,  and  its  masked  sisters,  Pantheism 
and  Materialism,  and  the  other  "isms"  that  affect  to 
ignore  the  existence  of  a  Personal  God — "  Nothing  can 
surely  be  more  monstrous,  than  to  represent  a  Creator  as 
unconscious  of  creating." 

A  few  words  on  Agnosticism  will  fittingly  conclude 
this  chapter.  I  have  already,  in  previous  chapters, 
described  it  as  the  great  fall-back  and  bulwark  of  unbe- 
lief. When  sorely  pressed,  unbelievers  of  our  times 
entrench  themselves  in  this  imaginary  stronghold. 

What  does  it  mean  ?  Simply  nothing.  It  is  the  abso- 
lute "  No"  of  the  Seer  of  Chelsea,  the  "  know-nothing- 
ism"  of  rampant  infidelity.  You  press  the  Agnostics  for 
an  answer  to  some  cogent  argument,  and  the  reply  is — 
"I  know  nothing  about  it."  And,  lest  this  confession 
would  be  too  humiliating,  they  say,  "  Nor  can  you  know 
anything  on  the  subject."  It  is  "  the  unknown  and  the 
unknowable."  What  an  absurdity !  What  a  manifest 
contradiction  in  terms !  If  it  be  altogether  the  unknown, 
how  can  it  be  logically  predicated  of  it,  that  it  is  the 
unknowable  ? 

As  to  the  claim  of  Agnosticism  to  be  anything  like  a 
Religion,  its  creed  formulated,  as  Frederic  Harrison  says, 
by  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  Evolution  philosophy. 


AND   SOME  POPULAR  "  ISMS."  351 

"  with  a  definiteness  such  as  it  never  wore  before,"  the 
claim  has  received  a  death-blow  from  this  clever  writer. 
Harrison  has  indeed  proved  bejond  doubt,  that  it  is  the 
"  Ghost  of  Religion,"  "  defecated  to  a  pure  transparency." 

When  St.  Paul,  standing  in  the  Areopagus,  would,  in 
a  trenchant  phrase,  dispose  of  the  claims  of  its  great  men 
to  anything  like  Philosophy;  and  sliow  that  they  were 
"  too  superstitious"  to  be  reasoned  with,  he  pointed  to  the 
altar,  which  they  had  erected  "  to  the  unknown  God." 
What  would  the  great  Apostle  have  said,  had  he  found 
that  they  had  added  to  the  word  unknown,  the  self-con- 
tradiction of  "  unknowable." 

Men  must  be  blinded  to  their  own  foolishness,  when 
they  commit  themselves  dogmatically  to  the  stupid  asser- 
tion, that  the  thing  of  which  they  know  nothing  whatso- 
ever is  so  complex  in  its  nature,  and  so  far  beyond  ordi- 
nary things,  that  no  one  can  possibly  know  anything 
about  it. 

A  few  passages  from  Harrison,  will  show  that  Agnos- 
ticism were  better  dead  and  buried  forever,  than  that 
any  one  should  attempt  to  utter  such  nonsense  in  connec- 
tion with  it. 

"  H,"  says  Harrison,  "  Peligion  is  still  to  be,  it  cannot 
be  found  in  this  I^o-man's  land,  and  Know-nothing  creed. 
Better  bury  Religion  at  once,  than  let  its  Ghost  walk 
uneasy  in  our  dreams" — "Agnosticism  is  no  more  a  Re- 
ligion than  Differentiation,  or  the  N^ebular  hypothesis  is 
religion." 

And  again — "  To  make  a  Religion  out  of  the  unknow- 
able, is  far  more  extravagant,  than  to  make  it  out  of  the 
Equator;  it  influences  seamen,  equatorial  people,  and 
Geographers  not  a  little,  and  we  all  hesitate,  as  was  once 
said,  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  the  Equator.    But  would 


352  CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

it  be  blasphemy  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  the  Unknow- 
able 1  Our  minds  are  a  blank  about  it.  As  to  acknowl- 
edging the  unknowable,  or  trusting  in  it,  or  feeling  its 
influence  over  us,  or  paying  gratitude  to  it,  or  conform- 
ing our  lives  to  it,  or  looking  to  it  for  help, — the  use  of 
such  words  about  it  is  unmeaning." 

And,  as  if  this  were  not  enough  to  excite  contempt  for 
the  wretched  abomination,  which  has  captivated  the  re- 
ligious tastes  of  so  many  cultured  admirers  of  the  fashion- 
able God  of  the  hour,  he  caps  the  climax  of  its  absurdity, 
by  introducing  it  to  us,  as  the  Formula  {x^)  x  in  the  nth. 
power,  or  the  Unknown  raised  to  infinity ;  and  represents 
its  worshippers,  as  appealing  to  this  strange  God  in  the 
language  of  emotional  piety.  "  O  !  a?"^,  love  us,  help  us, 
make  us  one  with  thee  !" 

But  there  is  something  more  than  ridicule,  there  is 
enough  to  awaken,  not  mere  contempt  for  this  absurd 
idol,  but  the  indignation  of  all,  who  have  ever  felt  what 
Eeligion  means,  when  he  draws  a  vivid  picture  of  those 
who  feel  the  need  of  Religion,  appealing  to  its  great  mas- 
ter, for  help  in  their  bitter  woe — "  A  mother  wrung  with 
agony  for  the  loss  of  her  child,  or  the  wife  crushed  by 
the  death  of  her  children's  father,  or  the  helpless,  and  the 
oppressed,  the  poor  and  the  needy,  men,  women,  and 
children,  in  sorrow,  doubt,  and  want,  longing  for  some- 
thing to  comfort  and  to  guide  them,  something  to  believe 
in,  to  hope  for,  to  love,  and  to  worship.  .  .  .  They  come  to 
our  Philosopher,  and  they  say — ^'Your  men  of  science 
have  routed  our  priests,  and  have  silenced  our  old  teach- 
ers, what  religious  faith  do  you  give  us  in  its  place  ? ' 
And  the  Philosoplier  replies  (his  full  heart  bleeding  for 
them)  and  he  says — '  Think  on  the  Unknowable.'  " 

If  this  does  not  give  a  quietus  to  Agnosticism,  I  know 


AND   SOME   POPULAR   "  ISxMS."  353 

not  what  will.  If  it  still  survives,  even  as  the  transpar- 
ency of  nothingness,  its  light  shade  can  only  be  found 
flitting  round  the  studio  of  some  distracted  Philosopher, 
insensible  alike  to  laughter  and  to  tears,  and  wholly  bent 
on  constructing  a  system  which  may  yet,  through  the 
frivolity  of  the  age,  turn  some  demented  beings  from  the 
attractions  of  Catholic  Christianity. 

If  this  creed  of  the  "  don't  knows"  is  the  only  fall-back 
for  those  who,  without  serious  thought  or  study,  take  up 
every  religious  paragraph,  that  may  meet  their  eyes  in 
newspapers,  or  magazines,  or  pamphlets,  and  hurl  it 
spitefully  at  the  "  everlasting  Church,"  they  ought,  in 
common-sense,  to  give  up  their  unholy  and  contemptible 
warfare,  before  the  feeble  barrier,  behind  which  they  so 
ignominiously  hide  their  heads,  at  the  least  show  of  re- 
sistance, is  blown  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  by  the  ex- 
pression of  public  scorn  and  universal  derision. 

In  the  next  chapter,  I  purpose  to  deal  with  another 
foe  to  Catholicity,  deserving  of  more  serious  notice  than 
those  I  have  combated  here.  It  is  that  Realism  which  is 
found  in  the  worship  of  Humanity,  and  which  is  so 
strongly  advocated  in  the  paper  from  which  I  have  taken 
the  above  extracts. 


854       CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND    REALISM. 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

Catholic  Christianity  and  Realism. 

n^HE  article  of  Mr.  Harrison,  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
-^  tury^  for  March,  1884,  from  which  I  have  taken 
so  many  extracts,  given  in  the  last  chapter,  ends  with 
these  significant  words — "  Shall  we  cling  to  a  Religion  of 
spiritism,  when  Philosophy  is  whittling  away  spirit  to 
nothing?  Or  shall  we  accept  a  Religion  of  Realism, 
where  all  the  great  traditions  and  functions  of  Religion 
are  retained  unbroken  ?" 

If  by  spiritism  is  here  meant  ghost  stories,  and  devil 
worship,  and  the  various  superstitions  which  have,  in 
every  age,  engaged  the  attention  of  men,  when  they 
abandoned  the  true  light  to  grope  in  darkness,  not  Phi- 
losophy alone,  but  practical  common-sense  are  indeed  di- 
vesting these  dreams  of  the  charms  which  once  hung 
around  them,  and  whittling  them  away  to  Nothing. 
Some  half-crazed  individuals  will  no  doubt  cling  to  the 
invocation,  and  worship  of  the  spirits  of  darkness :  but 
the  sanior  jpars  of  unbelieving  mankind,  to  whom  the 
Epicurean  maxim — "  Ijpsa  utilitas  jitsti  jprojpe  mater  et 
cequi,^^  and  "  the  almighty  dollar"  form  the  substitute  for 
a  Religion,  whose  treasure  is  in  Heaven,  will  have  no 
fellowship  with  these  "  tricks"  that  lead  to  nothing  profit- 
able and  substantial. 

If  the  Providence  of  God  allowed  the  lying  spirits  to 
disturb  the  order  of  the  world,  and  to  reveal  to  their  vo- 
taries, the  treasures  of  gold  and  silver  and  diamonds  and 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND    REALISM.        355 

other  precious  things,  that  lie  hidden  in  the  earth,  then 
the  case  might  be  different.  If  these  coveted  treasures 
were  to  be  the  rewards,  not  of  honest  industry,  and  that 
toil  and  labor  which  form  the  allotted  task  of  fallen 
humanity,  but  of  magical  rites,  then  the  case  would  be 
much  altered,  and  an  excuse  would  readily  be  found  by 
the  many,  for  devoting  their  attention  to  the  occult 
sciences.  But  now,  that  "  the  game"  is  found  to  be  "  not 
worth  the  candle,"  all  this  abomination  is  heartily  con- 
signed to  where  it  came  from. 

Still  men,  however  worldly  minded,  must  have  a  Re- 
ligion of  some  kind ;  one  particularly  that  has  an  air  of 
respectability  about  it,  and  at  least  certain  functions,  which, 
whether  they  satisfy  the  aspirations  of  the  heart  or  not, 
will  at  least  maintain  public  order  and  decorum,  or  fall  in 
with  their  sympathies  when  they  are  disposed  "  to  feel 
good." 

In  this  way,  I  read  the  quotation  given  above,  and  this 
meaning,  the  aptness  of  which  will  be  more  generally 
felt,  than  openly  acknowledged,  leads  me  to  speak  of  that 
Religion,  which  is,  according  to  the  Philosophers  of  the 
utile  and  dulce  school,  the  worship  of  Humanity. 

The  article  of  Herbert  Spencer,  "the  Prophet  and 
guide"  of  the  Agnostics,  which  provoked  the  reply  of 
Harrison,  is  not  without  considerable  merit  in  the  eyes  of 
its  critic.  "  It  is,"  the  latter  says,  "  in  its  final  outcome, 
the  most  cogent  and  suggestive,  that  has  yet  appeared,  in 
the  whole  range  of  modern  religious  discussion."  And 
why  ?  Because,  no  doubt,  it  brings  out,  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly, the  nature  and  the  origin  of  the  worship  of  Hu- 
manity ;  and  not  only  this,  but  because  it  interweaves  this 
charming  Religion  of  the  cultured  children  of  unbelief 
^4th  Evolution, — the  popular  Philosophy  of  the  day.    . 


356        CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND    REALISM. 

A  short  passage  of  this  remarkable  article  "  Eeligion,  a 
Retrospect  and  Prospect"'  {Nineteenth  Century^  January, 
1884),  will  explain  mj  meaning.  "  Thus,"  writes  Her- 
bert Spencer, ''  recognizing  the  fact  that,  in  the  primitive 
human  mind,  there  exists  neither  religious  idea,  nor  reli- 
gious sentiment,  we  find  that,  in  the  course  of  social  evo- 
lution, and  the  evolution  of  intelligence  accompanying  it, 
there  are  generated  both  the  ideas  and  sentiments  which 
we  distinguish  as  religious ;  and  that,  through  a  process 
of  causation  clearly  traceable,  they  traverse  those  stages 
which  have  brought  them,  among  civilized  races,  to  their 
present  forms." 

It  was  always  a  favorite  theory  of  unbelief  (we  can 
trace  it  back  to  the  unbelievers  in  the  national  religion 
before  Christianity),  that  man  was  gradually  evolved  from 
a  savage  state,  and  led,  chiefly  by  feelings  of  self-preser- 
vation and  mutual  protection,  to  society,  and  civilization, 
and  good  government,  and  order. 

The  Darwinian  theory,  as  regards  the  origin  of  man,  is 
only  an  exaggeration  of  this  old  Pagan  notion.  And,  so 
the  modern  Philosophers  of  Eealism  trace  back  religious 
ideas  and  religious  sentiments,  to  feelings  of  admiration 
and  respect  for  chiefs  and  heroes  distinguished  from  the 
crowd  by  their  lofty  stature,  their  physical  strength,  and 
their  commanding  abilities.  Men  of  this  stamp  were 
looked  up  to  with  veneration  by  their  fellows ;  and  after 
death,  were  honored  in  the  memory  of  those  who  sur- 
vived them,  as  heroes  and  demi-gods.  Their  valiant 
exploits  were  in  time  exaggerated ;  their  virtues  and 
transcendent  talents  described  as  more  than  human ;  and 
thus  in  time,  their  images  were  set  up,  and  made  objects 
of  adoration. 

It  is  easy  to  construct  theories  and  systems ;  particu- 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   ^ND   REALISi,!.       357 

larlj  when  facts  are  not  considered  necessary  to  con- 
stitute their  bases,  and  they  fall  in  with  individual  and 
national  prejudices. 

IS'o  one  can  doubt  but  that  the  Darwinian  theory  of 
Evolution  is  beautiful  in  its  simplicity;  and  though  it 
somewhat  shocks  our  pride,  by  connecting  our  earliest 
origin  with  rather  discreditable-looking  ancestors,  and 
savage  propensities,  most  men  however,  who  admire  the 
creations  of  original  thought,  are  disposed  to  forget  or 
ignore  these  very  distant  beginnings  of  the  race,  in  their 
admiration  of  the  charms  of  the  bold  grasp  of  mind, 
which  conceived  so  grand  a  system. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Darwinian  theory  of  ''natural 
selection,"  and  "the  survival  of  the  fittest,"  it  wants  a  firm 
basis  on  which  to  rest.  There  is,  as  I  noticed  in  a  former 
chapter,  the  absence  of  any  memorial  in  the  shape  of  a 
fossil,  or  earth-mark  indicating  the  transition  state  from 
brute  animal  to  man,  the  want  of  "  the  connecting  link," 
as  it  is  commonly  called ;  and  this  is  fatal  to  the  system, 
as  a  science. 

There  are  a  number  of  stark  facts,  very  curious  and 
interesting  no  doubt,  about  animal  instinct ;  but  they  are 
all  beside  the  question,  when  the  ingenious  author  com- 
pletely sets  aside,  as  if  he  could  not  see  it,  the  essential 
difference  in  hind  between  the  highest  operations  in  man 
and  the  lowest;  between  the  operations  of  the  animal, 
and  the  "  human  acts "  of  the  reasonable  being ;  and 
seeks  the  connecting  link  between  brute  and  man,  only 
in  the  lower  and  sensitive  nature  of  the  latter. 

Common-sense  will  see,  even  without  a  particle  of 
science,  that  there  is  something  considerably  greater  than 
the  difference  of  degree^  between  the  purely  sensitive 
talk  of  a  parrot,  and  human  conversation ;  between  the 


358        CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND    REALISM. 

animal  affection  of  a  dog  for  his  master,  and  the  abstract 
judgment  implied  in  man's  worship  of  God ;  between  a 
cat  fondling  with  a  friendly  hound  and  a  man  judging 
between  right  and  wrong. 

If  Darwin  held  that  the  thinking  principle  in  man  was 
the  same  in  kind,  though  far  different  in  degree,  from 
the  seat  of  instinct  in  beasts,  and  therefore,  that  what  we 
call  the  soul  in  man  was  only  a  highly  delicate  nervous 
organ,  then  the  unanswerable  point  I  touched  upon  in 
the  last  chapter,  showing  the  absolute  impossibility  of 
contradictory  thoughts  in  the  same  material  substance, 
would  apply  to  the  theory  of  Evolution.  The  evolution 
of  a  man  from  a  brute  beast  would  then  be  as  impossible 
to  imagine,  as  that  a  man  could  sit  and  run,  be  asleep 
and  awake,  be  in  a  fever  and  quite  well,  at  one  and  the 
same  moment. 

There  is  nothing  in  Catholic  teaching  to  prevent  us 
holding  the  doctrine  of  evolution  up  to  a  certain  point. 
God  may  have  created  life  germs,  at  the  first  instant  of 
creation.  This  would  simplify  considerably  many  of  the 
difficulties  urged  by  Unbelief  against  the  unity  of  race, 
and  the  preservation  of  animal  life  from  the  waters  of 
the  Deluge,  as  recorded  in  Genesis;  but  it  is  certainly 
contrary  to  Faith  to  hold,  that  the  soul  of  man  could  be 
evolved  from  the  seat  of  instinct  in  a  beast. 

It  is  much  the  same  with  the  evolution  of  Religion, 
as  with  the  theory  of  animal  evolution :  it  has  no  basis 
on  which  to  rest.  It  starts  too  on  a  wrong  principle  ;  it 
begins  at  the  wrong  end. 

It  may  be  questioned  if  the  theory  of  Darwin  is  not 
subject  to  the  same  fundamental  error.  Artificial  selec- 
tion, and  careful  breeding  will,  every  one  knows,  develop 
a  sort  of  perfection  in  animals ;  and  the  same  care  with 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   REALISM.        359 

plants,  and  flowers,  and  trees,  lead  to  similar  results. 
This  is  of  course  the  foundation  of  "  natural  selection " 
and  "  the  preservation  of  the  fittest :"  but,  I  saj,  it  may 
be  questioned  if  animals  or  plants,  left  to  themselves, 
will,  by  any  process  of  nature,  go  on  to  perfection.  Ex- 
perience I  believe  generally  testifies  to  the  contrary; 
that  breeds  of  animals  and  plants  will  deteriorate,  if  not 
carefully  attended  to.  Peculiarities  of  structure,  if  not 
constantly  watched  and  selected,  will,  as  in  nature,  where- 
ever  the  peculiarity  is  transmitted,  become  deformities. 
Even  the  celebrated  ancon  sheep,  with  its  long  body,  and 
short  bow-legs,  might,  if  left  to  breed  like  the  common 
flock,  have  propagated,  for  a  time,  a  sort  of  monstrosity. 
If  this  be  true,  the  whole  theory  of  Darwin,  which  sup- 
poses natural  progress  towards  perfection  to  be  an  ordi- 
nary law  of  nature,  is  a  grand  mistake,  even  in  its  broad- 
est conception. 

But  certainly  Evolution  in  Religion  is  open  to  this 
charge.  The  notion  of  Eeligion  gradually  rising  from 
hero-worship,  and  eliminating,  in  its  growth,  human  im- 
perfections from  future  Gods  and  Goddesses,  and  evolv- 
ing Theism  from  Polytheism,  until  its  perfection  is 
reached  in  Catholic  Christianity,  is  a  gross  mistake  ;  and 
is  palpably  contradicted  by  facts  in  the  early  history  of 
nations. 

The  most  certain  and  universal  fact,  that  can  be  ascer- 
tained from  the  primitive  records  of  all  ancient  peoples, 
is  this,  that  there  was  a  revelation  made  to  man  in  the 
very  beginning  of  his  existence ;  and  that  this  tradition 
gradually  degenerated,  and  became  disfigured,  and  weak- 
ened, and  corrupted,  till  it  had  almost  perished  before  the 
advent  of  our  Divine  Lord. 

I  was  very  much  struck,  some  years  ago,  by  becoming 


360       CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND    REALISM. 

acquainted  with  a  class  of  works,  eagerly  devoured  by 
certain  cultured  readers,  professional  men  with  hazy  no- 
tions about  Christianity.  These  works  undertook  to 
prove,  that  all  Religions  were  one,  when  they  were  care- 
fully examined.  The  gentleman,  since  dead,  who  intro- 
duced me  to  this  class  of  reading,  gave  me  something  of 
his  own  investigations  into  the  Religion  of  the  Buddhists 
and  Parsees,  and  pointed  out  to  me  some  notable  in- 
stances of  similarity,  in  these  Eastern  Rehgions,  to  Catho- 
lic doctrine  and  worship. 

The  Abbe  Hue  has  given  most  interesting  information 
bearing  on  the  same  subject,  discovered  during  his  visit 
to  Lassa,  the  capital  of  Thibet. 

Of  course  this  was  naturally  to  be  expected  after  the 
fact  of  a  Revelation  made  to  our  first  parents.  The 
truths  relating  to  the  unseen  world,  would  have  been 
communicated  by  them  to  the  early  patriarchs,  and  be,  in 
this  way,  transmitted  to  the  founders  of  the  different  na- 
tions and  peoples  of  ancient  times ;  and  thus  gradually 
brought  down,  embalmed  in  the  religious  rites  of  many 
peoples  actually  existing. 

What  struck  me  with  surprise  was,  that  this  argument, 
so  favorable  to  revealed  Religion,  should,  by  some  obli- 
quity of  judgment,  be  supposed  by  men  of  reading  and 
intelligence  to  make  against  it.  They  saw  the  difiiculty 
only  in  one  way.  "  Here,"  they  say,  "  is  an  overpower- 
ing argument  against  Christianity.  You  imagined  that 
what  Christians  believe,  was  first  taught  by  Christ,  and 
lo !  here  is  the  self -same  doctrine  taught  by  Egyptian 
priests,  and  Buddhists,  long  before  the  birth  of  Christ." 

The  answer  is  manifest.  What  more  natural  than  that 
the  elements  of  Christian  revealed  religion  should  have 
permeated  all  nations,  long  before  Christ  appeared  on 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND    REALISM.        361 

earth.  The  Jewish  law,  and  the  books  of  Moses,  which 
contain  its  substance,  were  but  the  written  record  of  the 
first  revelation.  And  Christ  came,  not  to  destroy  the 
law,  but,  to  fulfil  it,  and  perfect  it.  Christianity,  in  its 
essential  parts,  the  Unity  and  Trinity  of  God,  the  neces- 
sity of  a  Redeemer,  the  restoration  of  a  fallen  race,  the 
Resurrection  and  eternal  life,  forms  a  body  of  doctrine  as 
old  as  the  existence  of  man  upon  this  world.  "When  we 
glance  at  the  traditions  of  some  of  the  earliest  peoples,  we 
may  well  hold  up  our  hands  in  amazement,  that  the  lead- 
ers of  progress  should  be  completely  ignorant  of  this  key 
to  all  their  difficulties,  and  expose  themselves  to  the  ridi- 
cule of  educated  Christians,  by  fantastic  theories  about 
hero-worship,  and  the  Evolution  of  Religion. 

From  a  learned  work  by  L.  de  Rouen,  Baron  D'Alvi- 
more,  I  will  quote  a  few  passages,  which  show,  that,  not 
only  the  knowledge  of  the  Fall,  and  the  promise  of  a 
Redeemer,  were  carefully  preserved  in  the  traditions  of. 
early  nations;  but  also  the  remembrance  of  the  great 
events  recorded  in  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis. 

1st.  We  have  the  Chinese  traditions,  testifying  to  the 
original  Revelation.  In  the  book  called  Chou-King, 
regarded  by  the  Chinese  as  the  immovable  basis  of  their 
history,  we  read  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  out  of 
nothing  by  an  eternal  Being,  the  Creator  of  the  earth ; 
the  whole  human  race  derived  from  one  pair;  the  deluge, 
in  which  all  perished  except  one  family.  It  is  stated  in 
this  book,  that  Mu-wa  Qsoo)  was  saved  in  a  boat ;  and 
that  a  colony  of  his  descendants  settled  in  Chen-si,  and 
that  the  chief  of  this  people  was  the  wise  Yao.  In 
another  of  the  sacred  books,  we  find  still  more  striking 
records.  There  is  mentioned  the  state  of  innocence  in 
which  man  was  created,  the  terrestrial  paradise,  the  tree 


362       CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND    REALISM. 

of  life,  the  forbidden  fruit,  the  fall  of  the  woman,  the 
long  hf  e  of  the  Patriarchs,  and  even  the  promise  of  a 
Kedeemer.  Confucius  says  expressly,  that  the  holy-one, 
sent  from  heaven,  will  laiow  all  things,  and  that  he  will 
have  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth  ;  and  in  many  places, 
he  speaks  of  the  holy  man  who  is  to  come.  M.  Abel 
Remusat  shows  that  the  coming  of  a  holy  one  was 
generally  believed  in  China,  six  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era. 

Sanchoniathon,  who,  Voltaire  says,  lived  among  the 
Phoenicians  before  the  time  of  Moses,  writes — "  There 
were  in  the  beginning  a  dark  Chaos  and  a  spirit.  The 
spirit  reacting  on  this  Chaos,  and  warming  it,  brought 
forth  a  sort  of  fermenting  substance,  which  became  the 
seed  of  all  creatures,  and  determined  the  formation  of  the 
Universe."  He  also  says,  that  "the  first  man  and 
woman  were  brought  forth  by  a  vivifying  breath  and  by 
Chaos."  In  the  Yedas  of  the  Hindoos,  we  read, — "  The 
universe  existed  only  in  an  indefinable  manner  in  the 
Divine  thought,  so  that  the  understanding  could  not  dis- 
cern it.  Then  the  self -existing  power  created  the  visible 
world,  with  the  five  elements,  and  the  different  principles 
of  things.  From  His  thought  alone,  He  created  the 
waters.  They  were  first  called  nara^  because  they  were 
produced  by  the  nara  or  spirit  of  God ;  and  as  they  were 
also  the  matter  on  which  the  first  ayana  (movement  of 
the  Creator)  acted,  they  received  the  name  of  narayana 
(movement  over  the  waters)." 

One  of  the  Yedas  calls  the  first  man  Adima  (the  first ;) 
it  gives  him  for  his  companion  a  woman,  whom  it  names 
Pracriti,  a  word  which  among  the  Hindoos  signifies  the 
same  as  Heva,  or  life,  among  the  Hebrews.  They  are 
first  in  a  state  of  innocence  and  happiness ;  but  this  happy 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   REALISM.        363 

state  lasts  but  for  a  short  time.  The  first  parents  are 
corrupted,  and  the  children  become  still  worse  than  their 
fathers.  God  is  angry,  he  covers  the  heavens  with  clouds, 
separates  the  poles  with  thunder  and  lightning,  raises  the 
waves  of  the  sea,  till  they  cover  the  earth,  and  buries  the 
human  race  beneath  the  waters.  Brahmah  escaping  the 
general  ruin,  repeoples  the  Universe. 

Amongst  the  Persians,  we  find  the  following  traditions 
in  their  sacred  books.  Ormuzd  (principle  of  all  beings) 
created  the  world  in  six  times.  He  made  first  the 
Heaven,  then  the  water,  earth,  trees,  animals.  Man  and 
woman  were  the  last  works  of  creation.  Placed  in  a 
garden,  both  were  destined  to  be  happy ;  but  both  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  seduced  by  Ahriman,  the  great 
serpent,  the  knowing  one,  the  liar,  and  they  became 
unhappy  by  their  disobedience.  Death  is  introduced  into 
the  world  by  Ahriman.  Ormuzd  will  send  a  Saviour, 
the  prophet  Sraosha,  to  prepare  them  for  the  general 
Resurrection. 

It  is  not  only  among  Oriental  nations,  that  these  tradi- 
tions are  found,  but  among  the  early  inhabitants  of  the 
new  world.  We  read,  in  the  early  history  of  the  Mexi- 
cans, that  before  the  great  deluge,  the  country  of  Anahuac 
was  inhabited  by  Giants.  All  those  who  did  not  perish 
were  converted  into  fish,  with  the  exception  of  seven, 
who  took  refuge  in  caverns.  When  the  waters  had  sub- 
sided, one  of  the  giants  constructed  an  artificial  hill,  in 
the  shape  of  a  pyramid.  The  Gods  were  angry,  and 
launched  down  fire  on  the  monument,  and  killed  many 
of  the  workmen.  Among  five  of  the  peoples,  who  origi- 
nally inhabited  Mexico,  were  found  paintings,  in  one  group 
of  which  were  represented  the  woman  with  the  serpent 
QidlaztU  (woman  of  our  flesh).     The  Mexicans  regarded 


364        CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND    REALISM. 

her  as  the  mother  of  the  human  race.  Another  group  re- 
presented the  deluge  of  Coxcox,  the  Noe  of  these  people, 
saved  from  the  waters,  with  his  wife  in  a  raft  of  Ana- 
huete.  Another  tradition  described  Tezpi  in  a  large 
vessel,  with  his  wife,  children,  many  animals,  and  all  sorts 
of  grain  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  human  race. 
Tezpi,  on  the  retiring  of  the  waters,  sends  forth  a  vulture, 
and  afterwards  other  birds,  amongst  them  the  humming 
bird,  which  returned  with  a  branch  covered  with  leaves ; 
and  then  Tezpi  left  the  vessel  near  the  mountain  of  Col- 
huacan. 

The  learned  author,  from  whose  book  "  Beciieil  de  Re- 
futations,^^ I  have  taken  these  extracts,  fittingly  observes 
— "  Must  we  not  recognize  in  these  traditions,  of  people 
so  separated  from  each  other,  clearly  the  traces  of  a  com- 
mon origin  ?" 

Even  the  longevity  of  the  early  Patriarchs  is  attested 
by  the  history  of  early  India,  and  Persia,  of  China,  and 
Egypt,  and  of  the  new  world.  Amongst  the  Indians, 
the  records  of  Menou  speak  of  the  age  of  gold,  when  the 
Satya,  jcmng  men  free  from  sickness,  lived  for  four 
hundred  years. 

Yulcan  reigns  one  thousand  years  in  Egypt.  Caiou- 
marath  (the  first  man),  first  king  of  Persia,  lived  one 
thousand  years.  In  China,  Ching-Nong  reigns  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  years.  Among  the  early  Americans, 
Behica  lives  two  thousand  years.  The  same  longevity  is 
attested  in  the  histories  of  ancient  Chaldea,  Phoenicia  and 
Greece.  Chance  could  not  have  produced  tliis  unifor- 
mity of  tradition  in  countries  so  far  remote  from  each 
other.  The  ideas  of  peoples,  who  had  nothing  common 
in  their  laws,  language  and  religion  could  not  agree  so 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND    REALISM.        365 

remarkably,  if  there  was  not  truth  at  the  bottom  of  these 
early  traditions. 

I  have  dwelt  on  these  interesting  details,  because  they 
seem  to  me  completely  to  upset  the  theory  of  Eeligion  by 
Evolution  from  hero-worship,  the  only  speculation  that 
seems  at  first  sight,  apart  from  the  account  given  in 
Genesis,  to  satisfy  diligent  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  Re- 
ligion. If  such  is  the  fate  of  what  is  called  Eealism,  to. 
distinguish  it  from  transparent  crudities,  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  that  all  this  farrago  of  unbelief  will  soon 
be  consigned,  by  all  thinking  men,  to  "  the  tomb  of  all 
the  Capulets." 

It  is  remarkable  that  every  sustained  attack  on  Revela- 
tion, that  is  to  say,  every  attack  that  was  backed  by  a 
show  of  learning,  and  thus  provoked  careful  inquiry  and 
study,  has  resulted  in  new  triumphs  for  the  truth  of  Re- 
velation. What  the  inscriptions  on  the  stone  monuments 
of  early  Egypt  and  Assyria  are  doing  every  year,  as  they 
are  deciphered  by  learned  experts,  corroborating  the  his- 
tory of  the  sacred  books  even  in  minute  detail,  has  been 
the  constant  result  of  calm  and  dispassionate  investigation 
of  all  such  objections. 

The  modern  German  school  of  Bible  criticism  has,  in 
this  way,  strikingly  confirmed  the  truths  recorded  in  the 
Old  and  'New  Testament. .  The  truth  of  the  Resurrection 
of  our  Divine  Lord,  for  example,  which  is,  according  to 
St.  Paul,  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  proofs  of  the 
Divine  origin  of  Christianity — "  If  Christ  be  not  risen 
again,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your  faith  is  also 
vain"  (1  Cor.  xv.  14)  is,  if  possible,  more  clearly  demon- 
strated than  ever,  by  the  sustained  attempt  of  many  Ger- 
man infidels  to  prove  that  Christ  was  not  dead,  when  laid 
in  the  sepulchre. 


366        CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND    REALISM. 

They  said  He  was  only  in  a  trance  from  loss  of  blood, 
and  that,  when  laid  in  the  cool  vault,  and  refreshed  by 
the  smell  of  the  aromatic  spices,  placed  about  His  head. 
He  recovered  and  quietly  walked  away.  Christian  writ- 
ers easily  prove(J  the  absurdity  of  this  hypothesis. 

They  showed  that  the  great  quantity  of  myrrh  and 
aloes,  "  about  a  hundred  pounds"  (John  xix.  39)  wrapped 
round  the  head  of  our  Divine  Lord,  would  effectually 
have  smothered  Him,  if  He  had  not  been  already  dead. 
They  pointed  to  the  weight  of  the  stone  that  closed  the 
sepulchre  ;  to  the  presence  of  the  soldiers ;  and  cited  the 
testimony  of  the  Roman  officer  to  Pilate,  and  many 
other  arguments  bearing  on  the  subject. 

But  when  the  objection  was  still  pressed,  and  medical 
evidence  was  brought  forward  to  support  it,  some  emi- 
nent German  physicians  (the  two  Grruners  and  Richter, 
and  more  satisfactorily  Doctor  William  Stroude)  took  up 
the  matter ;  and  not  only  proved  the  absolute  certainty  of 
death  from  the  wound  of  the  lance,  and  the  flow  of  blood 
and  water  from  the  pericardium,  but  demonstrated  the 
fact,  which  makes  a  deeper  impression  on  every  Christian 
mind  than  any  circumstance  of  the  dolorous  Passion,  that 
our  Divine  Saviour  had  died  of  a  broken  heart,  the  heart 
having  literally  burst  from  the  excess  of  His  mental  and 
corporal  agony. 

In  the  same  way,  when  constant  efforts  continued  to 
be  made  to  disprove  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  not- 
withstanding the  accumulation  of  facts  to  show  that  vari- 
ous causes  lead  to  change  of  color,  and  peculiarities  of 
formation,  the  attention  thus  directed  to  this  subject, 
tended  to  promote  the  comparative  study  of  languages, 
which,  as  far  as  it  has  yet  been  pursued,  establishes  con- 
clusively and  evidently,  from  the  strong  affinity  between 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND    REALISM.        367 

them,  the  common  origin  of  all  these  creatures  of  God, 
who  enjoy  the  holy  power  of  speech  ;  and  demonstrates 
that  the  members  of  the  human  race,  however  widely 
scattered,  and  differing  however  much  in  many  important 
characteristics,  yet  belong  to  the  same  original  family. 

The  Philosophers  who  cling  to  the  Evolution  theory  of 
Religion,  will  also,  I  have  no  doubt,  if  they  are  persistent 
in  their  view,  secure  another  triumph  'for  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity, by  concentrating  the  minds  of  men  of  extensive 
learning  on  the  original  habits  of  the  human  race,  till 
evidence  beyond  repl/  is  brought  forward  to  show,  that 
such  a  theory  is  directly  in  conflict  with  the  earhest  his- 
torical records  of  the  primeval  Revelation. 

In  the  next  chapter,  I  mean  to  say  a  few  words  on  the 
hete  noire  of  all  systems  of  Religion — the  accursed  thing 
called  Spiritism. 


368      CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

Catholic  Christianity  and  Spiritism. 

n^HE  spirit  of  this  age  is  unquestionably  a  spirit  of 
-*-  progress.  Whether  this  progress  be  real  or  only 
apparent,  it  does  not  so  much  matter  in  connection  with 
the  subject  of  this  chapter.  The  main  idea  of  thinking 
and  active  men  is,  that  we  must  go  forward  somehow : 
it  would  be  the  worst  error  conceivable,  not  simply  to 
halt  in  the  onward  march  of  intellectual  and  material 
development,  but  to  take  a  step  backwards.  As  Charles 
Dickens  has  said  somewhere,  he  would  be  a  mere  obstruc- 
tive, who  would  attempt  to  induce  the  surging  and  ever- 
hurrying  crowd  to  join  with  him,  in  putting  back  the 
hands  on  the  great  dial  of  time.  We  may  not  even  pause 
to  think  seriously  over  what  was  once  believed  to  be  the 
wisdom  of  past  ages  ;  "  nous  avons  change  tout  celaP 

This  is,  I  believe  the  irresistible  prejudice  which  pre- 
vents non-Catholic  Christians,  as  well  as  Free-thinkers, 
from  considering  patiently  what  Catholic  Christianity  has 
to  say  about  Spiritism.  When  our  theologians  raise  a  cry 
of  warning,  and  point  to  the  proofs  of  its  diabolical  char- 
acter, they  are  at  once  met  by  the  counter-cry,  that  the 
dark  ages  of  witchcraft,  and  magic,  and  the  occult  sciences, 
with  their  goblins  and  demons,  have  vanished  in  these  en- 
lightened times.  The  men  of  progress,  the  bright-eyed 
eagles,  who  exult  in  the  noontide  splendor  of  the  sun  of 
progress,  cannot  consort  with  the  blinking  owls  that 
affect  only  gloom  and  its  shadowy  horrors. 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM.      369 

I  feel  therefore,  that  anything  I  can  say  about  the 
dangers  of  this  mischievous  delusion,  will  serve  only  to 
warn  Catholics  against  it. 

Luckily  however,  as  I  noticed  in  the  last  chapter,  the 
teaching  of  the  spirits  is  not  found  to  pay.  Its  most  ar- 
dent votaries  derive  neither  wealth,  nor  honor,  nor  glory 
of  any  kind,  from  their  devotion.  Its  high-priests  are 
not  looked  up  to  by  the  multitude,  as  Prophets,  or  in- 
spired sages  ;  and  so  it  leads  a  sort  of  spasmodic  existence. 
Occasionally  when  trade  is  dull,  and  active  minds  grow 
tired  of  reading  and  ordinary  recreation,  they  catch  the 
ardor  of  a  languid  excitement,  from  some  wandering 
spark,  who  professes  to  know  the  secrets  of  this  myste- 
rious belief,  and  to  be  able  to  initiate  disciples  into  an 
acquaintance  with  its  wonders.  If  any  of  these  latter  are 
developed  into  promising  mediums,  vanity,  the  love  of 
notice,  and  the  sense  of  possessing  a  power  not  given  to 
others  of  their  friends,  fan  the  smouldering  fire  into  some- 
thing like  a  light,  that  attracts  curiosity ;  and  so  it  blazes 
up  for  a  while,  and  then  dies  out,  leaving  behind  it  how- 
ever a  noxious  effluvium  in  some  morbid  natures,  that 
may,  for  a  long  time,  poison  the  freshness  of  healthful 
pleasures,  or,  it  may  be,  blight  the  happiness  of  a  life. 
This  is  the  ordinary  story  of  Spiritism,  as  far  as  careful 
inquiry  has  shown  it  to  me  in  South  Africa. 

It  may  be,  and  I  believe  it  is,  far  different  in  parts  of 
America,  where  it  is  the  accepted  and  acknowledged  be- 
lief of  hundreds  of  thousands.  In  England,  it  has  not 
made  much  way ;  in  France,  and  Germany,  for  a  while, 
it  promised  to  have  a  successful  career :  but  it  is  dying 
out  in  the  countries  of  Europe,  where  it  is  now  regarded 
as  something  less  than  "  the  ghost  of  a  Eeligion." 

Why  it  should  have  established  itself  permanently  in 


370      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM. 

the  new  world,  is,  I  think,  easily  explained  on  the  Cath- 
olic principles  concerning  it.  In  America,  unfortu- 
nately Agnosticism,  has  long  prevailed  among  certain 
classes.  These  have,  even  for  generations,  broken 
with  the  traditions  of  the  past :  they  have  almost  for- 
gotten God  and  His  Christ,  and  through  that  want  of 
something  supernatural,  which  exists  in  human  nature, 
they  have  taken  this  superstition  to  their  bosoms,  and 
cherished  it. 

It  seems,  among  such  as  these,  to  reward  the  affection 
and  earnestness  of  its  worshippers  by  extraordinary  man- 
ifestations. I  have  read  descriptions  of  these  wonders, 
that  were  startling  even  to  those,  who  learn,  from  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  their  true  cause.  Voices,  shad- 
owy shapes,  the  power  of  speaking  unknown  tongues,  and 
throwing  off  impromptu  verses  by  the  hour,  in  the  per- 
son of  uneducated  mediums,  aerial  music  of  an  enchanting 
character,  brilliant  waving  lights,  etc.,  keep  alive  the 
faith  of  enthusiastic  spiritists  in  America. 

Europe,  even  in  those  countries  where  Protestantism 
and  Infidelity  have  so  long  waged  war  against  the  Church, 
is  too  deeply  leavened  with  the  old  Faith,  to  desire,  or  to 
place  confidence  in  such  manifestations.  They  might 
too  awaken  a  slumbering  faith ;  and  as  our  Divine  Lord 
tells  us,  Beelzebub  is  too  wise  to  fight  against  himself — 
"  And  if  Satan  is  divided  against  himself,  how  shall  his 
kingdom  stand"  (Matt.  xii.  26),  the  arch-enemy  of  man- 
kind puts  forth,  amongst  those  who  have  a  remnant  of 
Christian  faith,  only  just  enough  of  his  "  lying  signs  and 
wonders,"  to  satisfy  curiosity  and  gradually  lure  his  vic- 
tims into  the  toils. 

It  is,  I  am  convinced,  their  total  ignorance  of  this 
principle,  and  of  the  true  source  of  spiritual  manifesta- 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM.      371 

tions,  that  has  led  many  remarkable  American  mediums 
into  serious  difficulties,  when  they  tried  their  powers  be- 
fore large  audiences  in  tlie  old  world.  Hard-headed 
Englishmen  congratulated  themselves,  when  these  in- 
dividuals were  convicted  before  the  magistrates  of  pal- 
pable trickery  and  fraud,  that  their  practical  good  sense 
had  exposed  the  wretched  swindle.  They  seem  to  for- 
get that  their  cousins  beyond  the  Atlantic,  are  quite  equal 
to  any  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  in  shrewdness  and 
sagacity,  and  that  a  smart  Yankee  would  see  through  the 
performance  of  the  cleverest  trick  that  was  ever  mani- 
pulated, before  a  cautious  Englishman  would  have  got 
over  his  first  impressions  of  wonder,  at  the  marvellous 
skill  of  the  conjurer. 

There  is  manifestly  another  explanation  than  that 
offered  by  the  convictions  of  fraud,  or  the  performances 
in  the  Egyptian  Hall,  London,  to  account  for  the  progress 
of  Spiritism  in  America,  and  its  discomfiture  and  failure 
in  England. 

The  only  rational  explanation  is  this,  that  as  the 
manifestations  of  the  spirits  could  not  be  depended  on, 
wherever  they  were  likely  to  encounter  the  disturbing 
influence  of  Faith,  Slade,  and  others  of  his  class,  were 
bound  to  supply  the  failing  power,  by  practising  the 
tricks  of  an  ordinary  conjurer.  It  would  never  do,  to 
come  forward,  on  the  stage  of  a  crowded  theatre  or  Hall, 
and  tell  the  audience  that  the  circumstances  were  un- 
favorable, and  the  spirits  had  "  struck  work."  Any  one 
can  tell  what  would  be  the  immediate  consequences  of 
such  an  announcement,  even  though  it  were  accompanied 
by  the  assurance  that  the  money  would  be  returned  at 
the  door.  Thus  they  tried  some  clumsy  tricks,  and  did 
them  so  badly,  that  a  smart  child  could  have  detected  the 


372      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM. 

attempted  deception  in  a  moment.  How  the  confirmed 
spiritists  in  America  must  liave  been  amused,  at  the 
comments  in  the  English  newspapers  on  the  exposures 
of  their  pet  Rehgion  ! 

I  have  seen  the  exhibitions  of  Maskeljne  and  Cook, 
and  wondered  how  people  of  ordinary  intelligence,  who 
have  been  taught  to  reason  from  effect  to  cause,  could 
possibly  run  away  with  the  notion,  that  the  cleverly 
arranged  mechanism  of  these  performers,  or  their  con- 
fident assurance,  or  anything  of  the  kind,  which  might 
excite  the  wonder  of  children,  could  be  reasonably 
assigned  as  the  cause  of  that  fascination,  which,  in 
America,  has  confirmed  so  many  thousands  in  their  self- 
sacrificing  support  of  Spiritism.  As  well  might  they 
maintain  that  mere  tricks  performed  by  the  priests  and 
augurs  of  Paganism,  had  enslaved  minds  greater  than 
this  present  world  of  petty  business  concerns,  and  in- 
ordinate conceit  and  vanity,  ever  beheld.  When  we  look 
on  the  ruins  of  the  works  of  "  the  great  days  of  old," 
and  mark  the  steady  progress,  and  perseverance,  and 
giant  resolve  devoted  to  the  accomplishment  of  works 
that  in  their  mere  conception  would  take  away  the  breath 
of  the  great  engineers  and  master-builders  of  our  time, 
we  cannot  but  feel  astounded  that  the  men  of  these  old 
times  should  be  imagined  capable  of  such  puerile  cre- 
dulity. 

Do  I  therefore  mean  to  say,  that  I  actually  believe 
that  there  is  anything  but  sleight-of-hand  and  trickery  in 
Spiritism  ?  I  no  more  doubt  the  presence  of  deviltry  in 
the  manifestations,  that  have  led  away  so  many  from 
Christianity,  than  I  doubt  my  own  existence. 

The  most  profound  theologian  of  modern  times,  Per- 
rone,   has,  in  his  work   '^  De    Yirtute  Beligionis^^  so 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM.      373 

powerfully  and  conclusively  argued  the  whole  question, 
that  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  who  studies  this  work, 
to  entertain  a  doubt  about  the  agency  of  diabolical  in- 
fluence in  Spiritism  properly  so  called.  This  book  of 
Perrone,  which  received  the  special  approval  of  the  late 
Pope  Pius  the  Ninth,  has  accumulated  such  a  mass  of 
evidence,  and  has  so  minutely  and  clearly  answered  every 
objection  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  on 
the  point,  that  the  keenest  perception  cannot  discover  a 
flaw  in  the  reasoning.  He  does  not  trouble  himself  with 
an  examination  of  the  higher  manifestations,  which, 
although  founded  on  grave  and  respectable  evidence, 
might,  by  their  very  extraordinary  character,  excite  amaze- 
ment, and  cause  the  serious-minded  reader  to  question 
if  the  Providence  of  God  could  give  so  great  power  to 
His  infernal  enemies. 

He  takes  up  the  ordinary  phenomena,  with  which  many 
in  this  colony  are  unfortunately  too  familiar, — the  bang- 
ing about  of  heavy  articles  of  furniture,  the  life-like 
movements  and  intelligence  with  which  these  things  ap- 
pear endowed,  at  the  bare  touch  of  a  medium ;  the  rap- 
ping out  of  answers,  so  connected  with  questions  pro- 
posed in  the  interior  consciousness  of  the  curious,  and 
manifested  by  no  outward  sign,  that  they  have  caused 
swooning,  and  really  dangerous  excitement  in  the  nervous 
system  of  many  who  had  been  tempted  to  make  trial  of 
these  unholy  experiments ;  and  has  demonstrated  that, 
neither  Divine  influence,  nor  that  of  good  angels,  nor  the 
souls  of  deceased  friends,  but  veritable  demons,  are  at 
the  bottom  of  these  hateful  exhibitions. 

About  seven  years  ago,  I  felt  it  my  duty,  hearing  from 
creditable  sources  that  seances  were  becoming  a  fashion- 
able recreation  in  certain  towns  of  the  colony  to  give  a 


374     CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM. 

lecture  on  modern  Spiritism  and  thus  sound  a  note  of 
warning.  As  I  fully  expected,  I  drew  on  myself  much 
censure  in  the  neTvspapers.  I  was  accused  of  giving  im- 
portance to  ridiculous  ephemeral  Tvonders,  and  encour- 
aging superstition,  and  attempting  to  bring  out  stupid 
exaggerations  of  long-forgotten  stories  of  the  dark  ages. 
My  only  hope  was,  that  my  carefully  measured  words 
might  check  the  evil.  I  think  what  I  said  had  some  good 
effect ;  and  that  it  deterred  a  few  good  people,  not  Cath- 
olics, from  meddling  with  matters,  about  which  they 
knew  very  little,  and  the  familiarity  with  which  might 
have  been  followed  by  serious  consequences  to  themselves 
and  others. 

The  line  taken  by  those  who  seem  to  hope  that  they 
can  put  down  Spiritism  by  boldly  denying  that  there  are, 
or  ever  were,  any  manifestations,  except  those  which  Dr. 
Carpenter  has  attempted  to  account  for,  under  the  theory 
of  "  unconscious  cerebration,"  or  "  involuntary  muscular 
action,"  on  the  part  of  those  who  in  a  circle  touch  the 
table,  or  other  article  of  furniture  that  is  expected  to 
spin  or  twirl,  is  simply  ridiculous,  in  the  judgment  of 
those  who  have  witnessed  anything  beyond  the  first 
attempts  of  amateurs  in  this  direction. 

A  writer  in  the  Times^  when  these  learned  explana- 
tions made  their  appearance,  very  justly  observed,  that 
if  scientific  men  had  no  better  reasons  to  offer  except 
these  and  similar  theories,  wrapped  up  in  technical 
phraseology,  they  had  much  better  be  silent  altogether. 
Such  puerile  attempts  at  mystification,  which  were  over- 
strained beyond  the  limits  of  common-sense,  and  did  not 
take  into  account  the  actual  phenomena,  as  attested  by 
credible  witnesses,  only  served  to  establish  more  firmly, 
what  they  were  meant  to  destroy.     He  was  quite  right. 


CATHOLIC   CHEISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM.      375 

I  have  heard  young  men  describe  what  they  had  wit- 
nessed at  certain  seances,  and  after  expressing  their 
amazement  at  the  extraordinary  evolutions  of  pieces  of 
heavy  furniture,  which  seemed  to  be  animated,  to  move 
hither  and  thither  of  their  own  accord,  and  even  climb 
up  walls,  invariably  wound  up  with  some  remark  upon 
the  singular  effects  of  electricity  and  magnetism.  I  could 
not  help  saying,  on  one  occasion,  to  a  young  friend,  "  As 
you  have  never  studied  these  sciences,  you  should  be 
careful  in  giving  dogmatic  opinions  about  them,  in  the 
presence  of  those  who  have;  you  may  make  serious 
blunders." 

Electricity  and  its  cognate  science  are  indeed  doing 
very  wonderful  things;  and  the  storing  of  this  subtle 
something,  which  we  call  a  fluid,  and  the  other  "im- 
ponderables"— light  and  heat,  may  yet,  in  this  age  of 
invention,  revolutionize  the  ways  of  the  present  genera- 
tion. But  no  conceivable  development  of  these  powers 
can,  without  a  cunningly  prepared  and  costly  apparatus, 
give  apparent  life  to  the  furniture  of  an  ordinary  room, 
which  happens  by  mere  chance  to  be  selected  as  the  scene 
of  these  mysterious  operations. 

There  is  scarcely  a  limit  to  the  surprising  things  which 
can  be  done  on  a  prepared  stage,  and  with  suitable  ap 
paratus.  It  is  almost  beyond  credibility  what  apparently 
intelligent  acts  will  be  gone  through  by  mere  seeming 
automata,  such  as  these  exhibited  in  the  Egyptian  Hall ; 
but  every  one  knows  that  inanimate  dolls  do  not  play 
whist,  and  execute  neat  drawings,  and  life-like  portraits, 
unless  they  are  worked  by  the  movements  of  an  intelli- 
gent and  well-trained  human  being,  who,  screened  from 
sight,  deftly  manipulates  the  carefully  prepared  me- 
chanism. 


376      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM. 

When  we  see  inanimate  things  rap  out,  by  indicating 
the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  a  long  and  well-connected  an- 
swer to  a  question,  whether  uttered  aloud,  or  written 
privately  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  carefully  sealed  and 
held  in  the  hand  of  a  reliable  witness,  and  that  this 
process  is  carried  on  in  a  well-known  room,  where 
there  is  no  place  for  concealed  wires  or  apparatus  of 
any  kind,  and  where  the  trial  is  attempted  without 
any  previous  arrangement,  a  sensible  man,  superior  to 
vulgar  prejudice,  will  conclude  that  an  intelligent  being 
has  communicated  its  power,  in  some  mysterious  way, 
to  the  lifeless  wood,  or  brass,  or  whatever  else  it  may 
be  that  appears  to  give  the  answer. 

When  I  was  in  Germany,  a  few  years  ago,  I  asked 
a  venerable  ecclesiastic,  who  had  been  for  many  years 
a  distinguished  professor  of  theology,  and  was  at  the 
time  filling  one  of  the  highest  offices  in  the  Church,  if 
he  had  ever  met  with  a  case  of  Spiritism.  He  told  me 
he  had  met  with  one  very  remarkable  case,  and  that  it 
had  left  no  doubt  on  his  mind  that  the  person  affected 
was  under  the  influence  of  the  devil.  Before  he  had 
this  experience,  he  said,  that  he  had  scouted  the  whole 
thing,  as  too  contemptible  for  serious  examination  ;  he 
believed  that  everything  extraordinary  attributed  to  it 
was  the  effect  of  trickery  and  deceit.  He  was  visiting, 
one  day,  in  the  lunatic  asylum  of  the  city  where  he 
lived,  a  young  person,  whose  mind  had  given  way, 
through  addiction  to  table-turning  and  the  like.  She 
had  lucid  intervals  ;  and  it  was  on  one  of  these  occasions, 
when  the  patient  was  perfectly  sane  and  tranquil,  that 
he  visited  her.  He  spoke  to  her  of  the  folly  of  trifling 
with  things,  which  had  so  seriously  affected  her  health. 
But  she  told  him,  that  whenever  she  touched  the  table, 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY    AND   SPIRITISM.      377 

it  became  animated,  and  that  she  could  not  help  believ- 
ing what  she  had  seen  so  constantly.  "  See,"  she  said, 
rising  and  touching  a  table  in  the  room,  "  it  will  follow 
me  like  a  pet  animal."  To  his  surprise  it  did  so ;  and 
then,  for  the  first  time,  it  flashed  upon  his  mind,  that 
there  was  something  diabolical  connected  with  this  move- 
ment. His  visit  had  been  unexpected,  there  was  only  a 
touch  given  to  the  table :  she  did  not  keep  her  hand 
upon  it,  and  it  seemed  to  obey  her  directions.  There 
was  no  possibility  of  wires,  or  any  communication  be- 
tween her  and  the  piece  of  furniture.  Under  the  impulse 
of  the  strong  impression  made  upon  his  mind,  he  prayed 
interiorly  that  God  might  have  pity  on  the  unfortunate 
victim  of  diabolical  illusion,  and  break  the  chain  that 
bound  her  to  the  enemy  of  her  salvation.  He  had 
scarcely  completed  his  short  prayer,  when  she  exclaimed, 
that  the  table  was  dead  or  insensible  to  her  command. 
She  saw  that  her  visitor  had  in  some  mysterious  way 
controlled  its  movement,  and  earnestly  begged  for  an 
explanation.  It  was  given,  and  led  to  her  prompt  con- 
version, and  the  permanent  restoration  of  her  reason. 

It  seems  to  me  that  a  case  like  this  is  beyond  cavil 
and  tliat  it  should  be  quite  enough  in  itself,  to  deter  all 
right-minded  people  from  meddling  with  this  dangerous 
folly.  Some  will  say  what  harm  can  there  possibly  be  in 
amusing  one's  self  with  one's  companions  over  the  erratic 
movements  of  a  piece  of  furniture,  which  is  in  all  proba- 
bility set  going  by  the  act  voluntary  or  involuntary  of 
some  one  in  the  company,  or  in  watching  the  absurd 
jerking  of  the  pencil  of  Planchette^  particularly  when  all 
notion  of  dealing  with  the  powers  of  darkness  is  never 
for  a  moment  entertained  ? 

Yet  I  have  been  assured  by  persons,  who  I  know  were 


878      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM. 

Dot  deceiving  me,  that  even  in  these  seemingly  harmless 
diversions,  impressions  have  been  received,  that  seriously 
affected  the  nerves  of  some  one  or  other  of  those  engaged 
in  them. 

A  medium,  said  to  possess  a  remarkable  power,  told 
me,  when  I  remonstrated  with  him,  on  amusing  himself 
and  others  with  exhibitions  of  his  influence,  that  he  never 
began  without  saying  the  Lord's  Prayer.  The  very  fact 
of  doing  so,  I  said,  indicated  a  suspicion  that  there  was 
something  wi'ong  in  the  practice ;  and  that  the  effect  of 
the  prayer  was  vitiated  by  the  positive  act.  I  see  that 
tlie  same  view  is  taken  of  similar  cases  given  by 
Perrone. 

But  it  will  be  said,  that  there  may  be  some  subtle  law 
in  nature  which  produces  these  effects.  "  Who  can  know 
all  the  laws  of  nature,"  says  the  experimenter,  "and 
therefore,  who  can  say  there  is  not  ?"  "  Perhaps,"  he 
may  add,  "I  may  be  the  lucky  one  to  stumble  on  some 
principle  of  science  hitherto  unknown." 

A  chance  discovery  of  this  kind  is  most  unlikely, 
seeing  that  scientific  men  of  the  greatest  abilities  have 
given  their  attention  to  these  phenomena.  As  to  not 
understanding  all  the  laws  of  nature,  every  one  knows, 
that  it  is  directly  contrary  to  one  of  the  fundamental 
laws  of  nature  that  an  inert  body  will  move  itself ;  and 
that  these  movements  are  opposed  to  other  well-known 
laws  that  form  the  very  basis  of  true  science. 

"  But  how  can  an  immaterial  spirit  act  on  matter  ?" 
It  might  as  well  be  said,  how  can  this  soul  of  ours  act  on 
the  material  body  ?  If  one  will  read  the  opening  chapter 
of  the  book  of  Job,  he  will  see  reason  to  bless  God,  that 
the  physical  power  of  the  evil  one  is  held  in  check  by  the 
Providence  of  God.     We  might  otherwise  have  some- 


CATHOLIC    CHRISTIANITY    AND    SPIRITISM.      379 

tiling  to  deplore  in  His  appointments,  far  beyond  the 
evils  which  ordinarily  afflict  mankind. 

There  is  one  great  principle  which  forms  the  basis  of 
all  sound  reasoning,  and  this  is,  that  the  effect  cannot 
exceed  the  cause  which  produces  it,  or,  in  other  words, 
that  the  cause  includes  the  effect.  If  a  mere  touch  can 
communicate  Kfe  and  intelligence  to  an  inert  piece  of 
furniture,  this  axiom  of  reason  would  be  overturned. 

But  the  fact  is,  wherever  there  is  question  of  the  super- 
natural, non-Catholics,  as  a  rule,  will  not  reason  at  all. 
Men  have  brought  themselves  to  believe  that  there  is  no 
Devil,  and  they  are  doing  all  they  can  to  get  rid  of  the 
troublesome  idea  of  a  Hell.  Eternity  of  punishment, 
and  the  sanction  of  the  Divine  law,  must,  with  the  dis- 
integration of  Catholic  dogma,  which  is  the  natural  and 
logical  consequence  of  Free-thought,  be  somehow  cast 
away  with  other  revealed  truths. 

If  human  reason  is  free  to  reject  one  mystery,  why 
should  it  not  have  the  power  of  repudiating  another,  that 
is  most  disagreeable  to  natural  feeling  ?  And,  if  there 
be  no  Eternity  of  punishment  hereafter,  there  is  then  no 
essential  difference  between  good  and  evil.  The  end  of 
both  being  the  same,  they  are  essentially  the  same.  And 
if  this  difference  is  not  real,  what  is  the  use  of  troubling 
ourselves  about  sin  or  temptation  or  the  devil  ?  Why  in 
this  case,  we  might  say,  should  God  have  given  up  His 
only  Son  to  deliver  us  from  an  unreal  evil.  Facilis 
decensus^  all  melt  away  in  the  presence  of  unbelief,  just 
as  snow  before  the  rays  of  the  sun. 

Men  should  think  of  this,  and  that  there  is  no  halting, 
once  they  have  begun  to  doubt  and  deride  revealed  truths. 
If  they  ridicule  the  idea  of  the  existence  of  a  devil,  and 
■oersist  in  disregarding  all  supernatural  phenomena,  and 


380      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM. 

acting  in  direct  opposition  to  the  principles  whicli  guide 
them  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  that  demand  investi- 
gation, they  will,  of  course,  succeed  in  keeping  far  from 
them  the  disquieting  thoughts  that — "  our  adversary  the 
devil,  as  a  roaring  lion,  goeth  about,  seeking  whom  he 
may  devour"  (1  Pet.  v.  8). 

But  I  would  ask  Christians,  that  is  to  say,  men  who 
really  believe  in  the  Divine  mission  of  the  Saviour,  but 
who  have  been  brought  to  deride  the  existence  of  the 
Devil,  what  is  meant  by  these  words  of  the  Apostle,  "  He 
that  committeth  sin  is  of  the  Devil ;  for  the  Devil  sinneth 
from  the  beginning.  For  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God 
appeared  that  He  might  destroy  the  works  of  the  Devil " 
(1  John  iii.  8).  The  meaning  of  the  passage  evidently 
is,  not  that  our  Divine  Lord  has  put  an  end  to  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Devil ;  for  those  who  sin  belong  to  this  great 
enemy  of  mankind  ;  but  that  He  might  destroy  this  work 
of  the  Devil  in  the  souls  of  men  of  Good  will. 

I  have  heard  some  advocates  of  Spiritism  say, — men 
who  had  been  familiar  with  supernatural  manifestations, 
and  fancied  that  good  spirits,  angels,  or  the  souls  of  de- 
ceased friends,  might  have  caused  them,  "  How  can  the 
Devil  be  the  cause  of  so  much  good  ?  Many,  by  means 
of  Spiritism,  seeing  the  wonders  it  effects,  have  been 
converted  from  Materialism  ;  and  the  messages  we  re- 
ceive are  generally  pious  exhortations,  and  perfectly  con- 
formable with  the  most  exalted  morality." 

The  answer,  that  at  once  suggests  itself,  is  found  in 
the  words  of  St.  Paul,  where  he  is  speaking  of  false 
Apostles,  and  deceitful  laborers,  transforming  themselves 
into  the  Apostles  of  Christ.  "No  wonder,"  says  the 
Apostle,  "for  Satan  himself  transformeth  himself  into 
an  angel  of  light"  (2  Cor.  xi.  14). 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY   AND   SPIRITISM.      381 

These  apparently  holy  messagee  are  only  in  perfect 
keeping  with  the  artifices  of  him,  who  was  "  a  Har  from 
the  beginning."  He  promised  fine  things  to  our  first 
parents ;  and  attempted  to  seduce  even  our  Divine  Lord, 
by  a  show  of  kindness  and  sympathy  for  His  hunger, 
when  he  tried  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness.  If 
Materialists  are  brought,  by  these  unholy  means,  to  re- 
cognize the  existence  of  spirits,  they  will  not  be  brought 
nearer  to  God  by  this  means  ;  but  rather  attracted  to  the 
eternal  enemy  of  God  and  man. 

Perrone,  quoting  from  many  distinguished  writers  on 
the  subject,  shows,  by  many  examples,  that  once  the  un- 
fortunate victims  of  this  superstition  are  caught  in  the 
toils,  they  receive  messages  of  a  very  different  character, 
absolutely  shocking  in  their  open  rebellion  against  God, 
and  their  revolting  suggestions.  When  the  Devil  assailed 
our  Divine  Lord,  it  was  not  long  before  he  threw  aside 
the  mask,  and  said — "  all  these  will  I  give  thee,  if  falling 
down,  thou  wilt  adore  me"  (Matt.  iv.  9). 

Those  mediums  who  eschew  the  society  of  turbulent 
spirits,  that  at  once  reveal  their  true  character  by  blas- 
phemous and  obscene  language,  and  affect  the  company 
of  the  more  gentle  kind,  who  indicate  their  presence  by 
soft  taps,  and  sweet  words  of  comfort  and  pity,  will,  if 
they  persevere  in  these  communications,  be,  some  day  or 
other,  as  startled  as  was  the  witch  of  Endor,  when  the 
ghost  of  a  just  man  suddenly  appeared  in  the  midst  of 
her  "  familiars." 

But  may  not  these  spirits  be  the  souls  of  dear  friends, 
who  are  dead?  This  is  the  greatest  delusion  of  all. 
Catholics,  of  course,  see  at  once  that  this  could  not  be. 
The  souls  enjoying  the  beatific  vision,  cannot  be  torn 
from   their  bliss,   by  the    incantations  of    a  medium. 


382      CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  AND  SPIRITISM. 

Those  wlio  are  expiating  the  punishment  due  to  sin  for- 
given, or  venial  faults,  cleansing  a  way  "  the  wood  and 
hay  and  stubble,"  or  imperfections  from  the  "gold, 
silver  and  precious  stones"  of  their  good  works,  "  shall 
not  go  out  from  their  prison  till  they  have  paid  the  last 
farthing"  (Matt.  v.  26).  What  power  on  earth  shall  re- 
lease from  their  bondage  those  who  are  lost  beyond  re- 
demption ? 

Men,  who  are  not  Catholics,  and  have  the  least  seK- 
respect,  loathe  and  detest  the  very  name  of  the  accursed 
thing,  which  pretends  to  the  power  of  calling  up  their 
souls  after  death,  for  the  amusement  of  an  ignorant 
crowd,  who  hang  on  the  words  of  a  stupid  medium  by 
whose  ungrammatical  or  slangy  language,  their  senti- 
ments are  supposed  to  be  expressed. 

This  notion,  that  the  spirits  who  speak  through  me- 
diums, are  the  souls  of  departed  friends,  shows  that  the 
delusion,  gross  as  it  is,  is  not  altogether  modem  ;  for  we 
find  St.  Thomas  quoting  St.  Augustine,  and  St.  John 
Chrysostom  in  denunciation  of  it.  "  Demons  frequently 
pretend  that  they  are  the  souls  of  the  dead,  to  confirm 
in  their  error,  the  Gentiles  who  entertained  this  belief  " 
(St.  Thomas,  Part  I.,  Q.  117,  Art.  4).  But  the  revolting 
belief  goes  back  much  farther,  even  to  the  earliest  days 
of  Paganism  ;  for  amongst  the  abominations  mentioned 
in  Deuteronomy,  as  abhorred  by  God,  is  the  very  one 
of  seeking  knowledge  and  truth  from  the  dead.  "  Let 
not  there  be  found  among  you  one  that  consulteth 
pythonic  spirits,  or  fortune-tellers,  or  that  seeketh  truth 
from  the  dead,  for  the  Lord  abhorreth  all  these  things" 
(Deuteronomy  xviii.  11,  12). 

I  say  this  is  the  greatest  delusion  of  anything  connected 
with  Spiritism,  and  the  most  fatal,  because  it  is  the  most 


CATHOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  AND   SPIRITISM.      383 

attractive.  When  the  clever  demons,  who  by  their  fall 
have  not  lost  their  superior  intelligence,  and  other  gifts 
essential  to  their  nature,  counterfeit  the  ways  and  manner 
of  a  deceased  friend  or  relative  of  those  who  invoke  the 
spirits,  they  bind  the  unfortunate  victim  of  their  deceit 
to  their  service  by  bonds,  that  it  seems  almost  hopeless, 
by  any  instruction  or  argument,  ever  to  loosen. 

Learned  priests  in  Europe  have  told  me,  that,  when 
Catholics  have  been  thus  seduced,  and  afterwards  touched 
with  remorse  expose  this  plague-spot  of  their  souls,  it 
seems  by  their  constant  relapse,  to  be  absolutely  incurable. 
Well  may  we  say  of  such  deplorable  evils,  with  the  great 
dramatist  in  Macbeth — 

Unnatural  deeds 

Do  breed  unnatural  troubles, 

God,  God,  forgive  us  all  1 


384  CONCLUSION. 


CHAPTEE  XX. 
Conclusion. 


"TF  what  I  have,  with  much  labor  and  careful  study  and 
-*-  consideration,  put  together  in  the  preceding  pages, 
prove,  through  the  Divine  blessing,  a  help  to  earnest 
souls,  who  are  seeking  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  "  as  it  is 
in  Jesus,"  it  will  be  the  happiest  work  of  my  life.  If  it 
is  not  blessed  with  this  desirable  fruit,  I  hope  that  He, 
who  sees  the  secrets  of  the  heart,  will  be  mindful  of  my 
intention,  and  for  Christ's  sake,  whose  blessed  will  it  is 
that  none  should  perish,  pardon  my  manifold  sins. 

I  have  endeavored,  all  through,  to  set  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity before  my  readers,  as  a  whole  body  of  doctrine 
and  practice ;  and  carefully  to  distinguish  both,  from 
ordinary  misapprehension  and  misrepresentation.  It 
seemed  to  me,  that  a  book,  in  which  this  simple  view 
would  be  steadily  kept  before  the  mind  of  those  who  may 
care  to  read  it,  and  in  which  the  sense  would  not  be 
obscured  by  heaps  of  learned  arguments,  and  attempts  at 
fine  language,  is  a  real  want  at  the  present  time. 

The  desire  to  do  this  so  effectually,  that  it  might  catch 
the  attention,  even  of  those  who  would  cursorily  turn 
over  its  pages,  has  I  see,  now  that  I  look  back  upon  what 
I  have  written,  led  me  occasionally  to  repeat  in  another 
form,  what  had  been  already  previously  written;  to 
apply,  for  example,  a  certain  train  of  thought,  laid  down 
in  a  general  way,  to  individual  sentiments  and  percep- 
tions. I  kept  before  me  steadily  the  Horatian  maxim, 
to  avoid  obscurity  in  attempting  over-brevity ;  and  found 


CONCLUSION.  386 

it  difficult  at  times  to  escape  the  other  extreme  of  prosi- 
ness,  in  the  bringing  out  of  what  seemed  to  me  a  matter 
of  peculiar  importance.  If  this  will  not  prove  wearisome 
to  those  who  follow  the  argument,  and  help  to  develop 
more  distinctly  mj  meaning,  I  will  cheerfully  bear  the 
castigation  of  critics  on  this  redundancy  of  style. 

We  have  a  great  number  of  admirable  books  in  English, 
which  expound  Catholic  doctrine  in  the  clearest  and 
most  forcible  manner ;  but  they  generally  take  up  a  doc- 
trine by  itself,  just  as  it  probably  would  be  taken  up  by 
a  non-Catholic  or  Infidel,  define  it  accurately,  and  sup- 
port it  by  sound  and  logical  argument,  and  then  answer 
the  objections  which  are  urged  against  it,  as  it  stands. 
This  is  scarcely  fair  to  the  body  of  revealed  doctrine,  as 
taught  by  the  Catholic  Church. 

The  Eeal  Presence,  for  example,  however  clearly 
proved,  as  a  distinct  dogma  of  Faith,  cannot  strike  the 
mind  of  a  stranger  to  our  Religion,  as  it  will,  when  it  is 
brought  out  as  the  complement  of  the  Incarnation.  It  is 
the  same  with  the  other  sacraments :  each  may,  and  does 
rest  on  distinct  proofs ;  but  the  whole  sacramental  system 
strikes,  even  a  non-Catholic,  with  its  majestic  beauty  and 
perfect  consistency,  when  the  system  is  seen  to  grow  up, 
almost  by  a  natural  unity,  from  the  "  Word  made  flesh" 
— the  great  abiding  sacrament  of  the  new  law. 

I  have  therefore  endeavored,  as  much  as  possible,  to 
blend  together  all  the  mysteries  and  doctrines  of  Catho- 
licity in  one  great  centre  of  religious  truth,  whence 
emanate,  as  so  man}  rays  of  light,  the  various  devotions 
and  practices,  and  the  entire  life  and  spirit  of  the  Church. 

How  far  the  study  of  Catholic  belief  regarded  seriatim 
has  caused  misapprehension,  I  cannot  say:  but  I  feel 
certain,  that  considerable  difiiculty  has  been  experienced 


386  CONCLUSION. 

by  intelligent  Protestants,  wlien  they  have  tried  to  master 
the  real  teaching  of  the  Church,  by  taking  up  her  doc- 
trines in  detail. 

Let  them  study  for  example,  the  worship  of  the  Sacred 
Heart ;  what  more  natural  than  that  this  devotion  should 
be  considered,  by  diligent  inquirers,  a  sort  of  materialistic 
object  of  superstition,  when  viewed  by  itself.  It  seems 
absolutely  repulsive  to  Protestant  notions,  that  a  mere 
combination  of  flesh,  and  blood,  and  muscle,  could,  by 
any  process  of  reasoning,  be  set  up  as  an  object  of  wor- 
ship :  and  it  is  not  surprising  therefore,  that  many  intelli- 
gent journalists,  and  writers  in  Reviews  and  Magazines, 
have  adopted  the  Jansenistic  idea  of  this  devotion,  and 
denounced  it  as  gross  materialism. 

But  let  it  be  considered  in  its  intimate  connection  with 
the  Incarnation,  and  all  these  difficulties  vanish;  nay 
more  they  seem  to  bring  forth,  into  the  clearest  light, 
the  true  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.  I  would  even  go 
so  far  as  to  maintain,  that  the  mystery  of  the  "Word 
made  flesh"  cannot  be  received  by  Faith,  in  all  its  pleni- 
tude, unless  the  doctrine  of  the  Sacred  Heart  is  accepted 
as  explained  by  the  Church. 

Those  who  speak  and  write  of  the  materialistic  worship 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  show,  by  their  misunderstanding  of 
the  very  elements  of  this  devotion,  that  they  do  not  com- 
prehend Catholic  teaching  in  reference  to  the  perfect 
union  of  the  Divine  and  human  natures  in  one  person. 
I  think  I  have  shown  conclusively,  in  what  I  have  writ- 
ten on  the  subject,  that  even  the  Catholic  belief  pro- 
claimed in  the  General  Council  of  Ephesus,  that  Mary  is 
the  mother  of  God,  does  not  develop  the  truth  so  plainly 
and  unmistakably,  as  it  is  brought  home  to  the  mind  of 
every  Catholic  by  this  devotion. 


CONCLUSION.  387 

We  may  believe  that  the  soul  and  body,  or  the  entire 
human  nature  of  the  man-God,  is  inseparably  united 
with  the  second  Divine  Person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity ; 
and  yet  falter  at  the  inevitable  conclusions  of  the  doc- 
trine, as  it  is  plainly  expressed  in  the  devotion  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  and  determined  by  orthodox  teaching. 
When  the  soul  of  our  Divine  Lord  was  really  separated 
from  the  body  by  death,  and  the  lifeless  corpse  lay  on 
the  lap  of  the  Yirgin  Mother,  or  was  placed  in  the  sepul- 
chre, we  might  imagine  that,  in  the  period  after  His 
death,  that  preceded  the  Resurrection,  there  was  a  change 
in  the  relations,  that  had  been  established  between  the 
union  of  the  two  natures.  We  might  be  tempted  to 
suppose,  that  the  Divinity  clung  to  the  active  and  hving 
principle,  and  leaving  the  inanimate  body,  for  a  time  at 
least,  had  accompanied  the  soul  of  our  Divine  Lord  to 
the  lower  regions,  where  the  spirits  of  the  saints  and  Pa- 
triarchs of  the  old  dispensation  awaited  their  deliverance. 

But  it  is  not  so ;  such  a  separation  would,  as  all  theolo- 
gians beheve,  have  broken,  in  its  very  essence,  the  bond 
which  makes  us  children  of  God,  brothers  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  heirs  to  His  kingdom.  God  the  Son  allied  Himself 
to  our  nature  perfectly ;  not  to  the  soul  only,  but  to  the 
body  also,  to  every  part  of  the  human  nature,  which  He 
had  made  His  own ;  not  alone  to  the  head,  or  heart,  or 
limbs,  that  were  pierced  for  our  sakes,  but  to  every  drop 
of  the  Precious  blood  shed  for  our  salvation.  The  whole 
human  nature  was  so  intimately  united  to  the  Divine  per- 
son, that  not  one  particle  of  the  Flesh  and  Blood  derived 
from  the  Yirgin  Mother  could,  as  long  as  they  remained 
flesh  and  blood,  for  an  instant  be  absolutely  severed  from 
it. 

This  is  a  marvellous  truth,  which  requires  the  entire 


388  CONCLUSION. 

subjection  of  our  reason  to  tlie  word  of  God.  The  unre- 
generate  reason  startles  at  tlie  proposition,  questions  it, 
rebels  against  it,  cannot  possibly  receive  it  without  Faith. 
It  is  only  this  supernatural  gift  of  God,  that  enables  us 
to  receive  the  astounding  mystery. 

Once  duly  instructed,  by  the  infallible  living  voice, 
which  even  scepticism  perceives  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  the  full  acceptance  of  Kevelation,  we  then  perceive 
the  true  nature  of  these  bonds,  by  which  the  Son  of  God 
has  allied  Himself  to  a  fallen  race.  Then,  with  the  sense 
of  Faith,  looking  as  it  were  through  the  eyes  of  the 
mother  of  sorrows,  we  behold  the  angels  worshipping 
the  inanimate  Body,  and  see  them  clustering  round  each 
drop  of  the  Precious  Blood,  that  flowed  for  our  sakes,  in 
the  garden  of  Gethsemani,  and  bespattered  the  hall  of 
Pilate,  or  was  trodden  under  foot  by  the  crowd  that 
thronged  to  Calvary. 

What  a  wondrous  help  is  this  to  realize  all  that  is  given 
us  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament — '^  Sumunt  honi,  sumunt 
Tnali,^^  desecrated  by  diabolical  passion,  cast  out  into  the 
muddy  streets,  pierced  by  daggers  in  honor  of  the  demon, 
blended  with  poison  for  purposes  of  murder,  to  what  in- 
dignities has  not  the  most  Holy  Eucharist  been  subjected ! 

When  we  picture  to  ourselves  these  marvels  of  Divine 
patience,  as  they  stand  out  distinctly  before  us  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  as  in  no  other,  we  can  ex- 
claim with  St.  Thomas — "  0  res  mirabilis !  mcmducat 
Dominum^  jpaujper^  servus  et  humilis,^^  and  bowing  to 
the  earth,  in  humble  adoration,  thank  the  good  God,  as 
best  we  may,  for  such  prodigies  of  mercy. 

If  I  have  said  anything,  in  my  remarks  on  sentimental 
Keligion,  that  will  cause  pain  to  earnest  Christians,  who 
are  not  Catholics,  I  can  only  express  my  regret  that  they 


CONCLUSION.  389 

should  be  offended,  by  what  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  say  in 
the  interests  of  truth. 

I  have  often  felt,  I  feel  it  now  acutely  while  I  write, 
that  their  earnest  attachment  to  the  mere  traditions  of 
the  Faith  "  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  their  heartfelt 
reverence  for  the  crumbs  of  Holy  Doctrine,  that  have,  in 
spite  of  sectarian  rage,  been  saved  and  piously  guarded 
by  80  many  devout  souls,  shame  the  languid  faith  of  too 
many,  who,  through  the  gratuitous  mercy  of  God,  have 
without  any  merit  on  their  part,  been  called  to  sit  as 
guests  at  the  bountiful  table  which  He  has  spread  for 
Catholics.  What  shall  we  plead  in  our  defence,  at  the 
awful  tribunal  of  judgment,  when  these  shall  rise  up 
against  us,  and  say,  had  they  only  heard  of  the  good 
things,  so  plentifully  set  before  us,  they  would  have 
rivalled  the  saints,  in  the  fervor  of  their  unbounded  love 
for  so  good  a  Saviour. 

But  I  cannot  help  repeating  what  I  have  stated  already, 
that  there  is  no  greater  enemy  to  the  true  Church,  than 
those  false  teachers,  who  undertake  to  feed  the  hungry 
with  the  husks  of  this  piety  of  mere  feeling,  and  by  this 
means,  satisfy  their  urgent  wants,  and  prevent  them  from 
throwing  themselves,  sorrowing  and  repenting,  at  the 
feet  of  their  loving  Father. 

When  I  picture  to  myself  with  what  anxious  care  such 
as  these  prepare  themselves  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  how 
they  strive  to  repair  their  faults,  to  forgive  those  who 
trespass  against  them,  to  excite  in  their  souls  the  rever- 
ence and  tender  affection  to  our  Lord,  which  animated 
the  Apostles,  as  they  ate  the  last  Pasch  with  their  Divine 
Master ;  and  how  fervently  they  ponder  on  His  suffer- 
ings, while  they  eat  and  drink  mere  bread  and  wine  in 
remembrance  of  Him,  I  feel  humbled  and  abashed  at  my 


390  CONCLUSION. 

want  of  a  lively  faith,  as  often  as  I  partake  of  the  true 
Body  and  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Holy  Communion. 

How  different  would  be  the  aspect  of  this  weary  world, 
if  Christians  of  all  denominations  were  made  one,  in  the 
participation  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament !  Thus  animating 
one  another  by  mutual  prayer,  and  good-will,  Christians 
would  exhibit  to  an  unbelieving  world,  the  most  striking 
proof  of  the  Divine  origin  and  character  of  the  Eeligion 
Christ  has  left  us. 

Our  Divine  Lord  prayed,  at  his  last  supper,  that  not 
only  they  who  were  present,  but  those  who  would  believe 
in  their  teaching,  might,  notwithstanding  the  perversity 
of  our  free-will,  be  thus  united,  made  one  as  He  and  the 
adorable  Persons  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  are  one.  Could 
this  have  been  accomplished,  even  by  the  marvels  of  Di- 
vine Grace  given  sufficiently  to  every  one,  we  should  hear 
nothing  of  the  outcries  of  unbelief.  Alas !  they  who  de- 
ride the  Blessed  name  of  the  Saviour,  can  well  say,  in 
mockery  and  scorn,  what  the  Pagans  were  forced  to  say, 
in  admiration  of  the  first  followers  of  the  Crucified, — 
"  See  how  those  Christians  love  one  another." 

But  we  are  free  to  do  as  we  please.  Though  the 
charity  of  Christ  "presseth  us,"  when  we  behold  the 
excess  of  His  love,  as  it  is  exhibited  in  the  teaching  of 
Catholic  Christianity,  it  does  not  constrain  or  compel  us, 
in  spite  of  our  prejudices,  to  be  "  of  one  mind,"  and  to 
confess,  as  it  were  "  with  one  mouth"  all  things  which  He 
and  His  Apostles  have  announced  to  the  world.  We 
can  only  pray  with  all  our  hearts,  that  good  men  may  be 
brought  somehow  to  see  the  beauty  of  Catholic  doctrine ; 
and  thus,  if  separated  from  our  brethren  in  Christ,  to  be 
really  united  to  Him  in  His  desire  that  there  should  be 
"  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd." 


CONCLUSION.  391 

I  have  not  entered  deeply  into  the  consideration  of  the 
Phases  of  modern  Unbelief.  I  felt  it  would  do  no  good 
to  let  my  fellow-Christians  know  the  full  extent  of  these 
aberrations  from  revealed  truth,  which  are  exhibited  in 
every  new  theory  of  Eeligion.  It  might  perhaps  shake 
the  faith  of  weak  brethren  in  the  Providence  of  God. 

'No  doubt  when  the  blasphemies  of  the  great  Pevolu- 
tion  were  echoed  through  the  world,  believers  in  Christ 
could  hardly  restrain  their  indignation.  They  must  have 
cried  out,  in  horror  and  amazement,  as  they  heard  that  a 
worthless  woman  was  set  up  on  the  altar  of  the  true 
God,  and  worshipped,  amid  the  acclamations  of  an  ex- 
cited people, — "  How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long  wilt  Thou 
endure  this  profanation  ?" 

But  because  God  is  patient  and  long-snffering,  men 
hold  their  peace  now,  when  Agnosticism  or  black  hideous 
Materialism,  or  Pantheism,  or  even  the  worship  of  the 
Devil,  invite  the  adoration  or  the  homage  of  the  unbeliev- 
ing masses.  But  if  God  is  patient,  "  He  is  not  mocked  " 
with  impunity. 

There  are  sins  that  cry  aloud  to  Heaven  for  vengeance ; 
and  surely,  above  all  other  sins,  is  the  great  "  Kevolt," 
for  which  the  coldness  and  indifference  of  these  latter 
days  seems  preparing  us.  I  never  hear  that  beautiful 
prayer  of  the  Church — "  Spare,  O  Lord,  spare  Thy  peo- 
ple, and  be  not  angry  with  us  forever,"  that  I  do  not 
feel  it  should  be  the  constant  cry  of  all  Christendom. 
God  is  terrible  in  His  anger ;  but  He  is  most  terrible,  as 
the  Prophet  declared,  when  "  His  indignation  seemed  to 
rest  above  the  head  of  His  people,"  and  no  great  tribula- 
tion fell  upon  them,  to  remind"  them  of  His  wrath. 

There  were  great  nations  in  the  world  before  now, 
which  experienced  the  fatal  consequences  of  forsaking 


392  CONCLUSION. 

God,  for  the  service  of  His  enemies.  As  we  read  the 
vivid  pictures  which  able  hands  have  sketched,  in  recent 
years,  of  the  chastisements  of  Imperial  Kome,  and  mark 
the  fulfilment  of  the  woes  pronounced  against  this  Baby- 
lon of  the  Apocalypse,  we  see  as  clearly  the  hand  of  an 
avenging  God,  as  it  was  manifested  in  the  destruction  of 
the  cities  of  the  plain.  When  Goth,  and  Yandal,  and 
Hun,  burst  down  upon  the  great  mistress  of  the  nations, 
like  successive  ocean  waves,  and  swept  before  them  her 
mighty  palaces  and  temples,  no  wonder  the  most  distant 
provinces  of  the  vast  empire,  beheld,  in  these  rude  shocks, 
the  marks  of  the  "  terrible  scourge  of  God." 

Standing,  as  I  stood  some  years  ago,  on  the  Palatine, 
and  picturing  to  one's  self  the  splendor  and  magnificence 
of  a  Koman  triumph  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  Empire ; 
watching  in  imagination  the  interminable  throng  of  cap- 
tives of  all  countries,  toiling  along  the  route  under  the 
weight  of  the  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious  things,  car- 
ried away  by  the  spoiler,  and  the  flashing  armor,  and  the 
banners  of  the  proud  legionaries,  hearing  the  deafening 
clang  of  trumpets,  and  the  martial  music,  one  can  realize 
what  is  meant  by  "  the  pride  of  life,"  and  not  wonder, 
that  the  ^actorious  Csesar  or  General  should  need  one  be- 
side him  to  remind  him  constantly  that  he  was  not  yet  a 
God.  With  such  a  scene  extending  amid  the  miles  and 
miles  of  stately  buildings,  and  glorious  monuments  of 
that  vast  wealth  and  wonderful  civilization,  away  over 
the  seven  hills,  and  farther  than  eye  can  reach  on  the 
Campagna,  and  then  looking  down  on  the  ruin  and  deso- 
lation in  the  Forum  beneath  his  feet,  the  lesson  is 
brought  home  of  the  perishable  nature  of  man's  grandest 
achievements.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  traveller 
from  distant  lands  feels  so  sensibly  that  "  this  world  pass- 


CONCLUSION.  393 

eth  awaj,"  that  another  vision,  sketched  by  a  master- 
hand,  naturally  suggests  itself.  Men  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  the  world,  proud  of  their  country's  progress,  and 
worshippers  of  its  wealth,  may  smile  at  the  often-quoted 
extract  of  Macaulay. 

But  there  are  already  signs  in  the  IsTorth,  and  South, 
and  East,  and  West,  which  might  chill  their  ardor,  and 
even  the  ghost  of  a  vision,  like  that  of  the  "  battle  of 
Dorking,"  might  cause  a  numbing  of  the  heart  to  steal 
upon  them,  of  startling  significance.  Mighty  cities  of 
the  past,  that  once  seemed,  to  their  inhabitants,  durable 
as  the  everlasting  hills,  are  now  a  mass  of  shapeless  ruins, 
melting  away  year  after  year  into  utter  desolation.  His- 
tory repeats  itself ;  and  future  generations,  not  far  re- 
mote, may  realize  to  their  dismay  that  the  accumulated 
wealth  and  power  of  nations  is  not  the  property  of  the 
idol  called  "  Humanity  ;"  but  that "  the  earth  is  the  Lord's 
and  the  fulness  thereof."  It  would  be  well  to  have  these 
words  of  wisdom,  not  merely  engraved  on  the  marble 
that  at  present  marks  the  centre  of  worldly  aspirations, 
in  the  great  metropolis,  but  in  the  hearts  of  a  mighty 
people,  who  seem  already  spoiled  by  continuous  and  un- 
checked prosperity. 

There  is  however  one  great  kingdom,  and  because  it 
has  been  set  up  by  the  God  of  Heaven,  "  it  shall,"  as  the 
Prophet  Daniel  writes,  "  never  be  destroyed,"  and  "  it 
shall  stand  forever"  (Daniel  ii.  44).  This  kingdom, 
which  is  called  by  Macaulay  "  The  everlasting  Church," 
the  Church  built  by  our  Divine  Lord  on  Peter,  will  re- 
sist even  the  worst  assaults  of  Hell  itself. 

Even  when  Satan  shall,  by  the  worse  than  Pagan 
irreligion  and  impiety,  that  prevails,  and  is  every  day 
spreading  with  fearful  rapidity,  resume  his  empire  in 


394  CONCLUSION. 

this  world ;  and  its  laws  shall  be  delivered  into  his  hands 
"  for  a  time,"  the  rock,  "  cut  out  of  the  mountain,  with- 
out hands,"  shall  defy  his  efforts  to  upheave  it.  The 
successor  of  St.  Peter  may  be  driven  out,  and  become  a 
wanderer  on  the  face  of  the  earth;  but  wherever  he 
rests  his  feet,  there  shall  the  rock  be  found  beneath  them, 
— "  TTbiPetrus^  ibi  Ecclesia'^  (St.  Ambrose  in  Psalm  xL, — 
n.  30).  Weapons,  more  potent  even  than  that  product 
of  diabolical  ingenuity  which,  while  it  saps  all  human 
rights,  is  applauded  by  those  who  profit  by  it,  as  one  of 
the  bright  discoveries  of  modern  progress, — "  the  logic 
of  accomplished  facts,"  may  be  hurled  at  this  rock,  but 
they  will  strike  in  vain.  The  "  word  that  shall  never 
pass  away," — the  promise  of  perpetual  stability,  will  be 
fulfilled  till  time  shall  be  no  more,  and  when  this  king- 
dom is  transferred  to  Heaven,  there,  shall  the  Church 
Triumphant  reign  in  glory,  as  long  as  God  exists. 

How  vain  and  silly  it  is  for  men  who  have  read  his- 
tory, to  be  ever  on  the  look-out  for  the  telegram,  that 
shall  announce  the  tidings,  so  joyful  to  the  enemies  of 
Christ  that  the  Holy  Father,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter, 
is  about  to  fly  from  Kome,  or  better  still,  has  actually 
abandoned  the  holy  city  !  "Why  they,  who  so  confidently 
proclaim  that  the  Papacy  is  no  more,  should  give  them- 
selves so  much  concern  about  the  movements  of  an  old 
man,  weak  and  helpless  in  all  worldly  power,  is  more 
than  they  can  themselves  well  account  for. 

They  who  regard  the  complete  spoliation  of  Leo  XIII., 
as  a  vital  question  for  Catholic  Christianity,  should  re- 
member, that  his  predecessors,  for  three  hundred  years 
of  the  most  sanguinary  persecution,  ruled  the  Church 
"  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,"  from  the  tombs  of 
the  Catacombs.     They  should  also  bear  in  mind,  that,  in 


CONCLUSION.  395 

those  evil  days  of  Pagan  supremacy,  the  kingdom  of  God 
on  earth  grew  so  luxuriantly,  fertilized  as  it  was  by  the 
blood  of  nearly  twelve  millions  of  martyrs,  that  Chris- 
tians crowded  even  the  palace  of  the  Caesars. 

And  why  is  this?  Because  Persecution  is  the  chief 
means,  adopted  by  Divine  Providence,  to  develop  its 
ever-youthful  strength  and  vigor.  [N'ever,  during  its 
whole  history,  were  its  powers  so  knit  together  in  healthy 
activity,  as  in  these  very  days,  in  which  the  existence  of 
Christianity,  outside  its  fold,  is  threatened  by  the  raven- 
ing wolves  of  a  wide-spread  and  ever-growing  Infidelity. 
The  last  definition  of  the  Vatican  Council  marks  the 
utmost  extreme  of  spoliation  and  bondage  that  is  possible 
for  daring  impiety.  Though  the  last  refuge  of  the  Holy 
Father  in  Rome  may  be  closed  against  him,  and  his 
brethren,  "  placed  to  rule  the  Church  of  God  which  He 
hath  purchased  with  His  own  blood "  (Acts  xx.  28),  his 
infallible  voice  shall  go  forth,  with  an  infiuence,  more 
touching  to  every  Catholic  heart  from  the  fact  that  he  is 
suffering  for  justice  sake,  and  guide  the  flock,  spread 
throughout  the  world,  in  all  its  perplexities  and  difficul- 
ties. 

There  i&  yet  another  point  worth  remembering,  it  is 
clearly  brought  out  by  Cardinal  Manning,  in  his  work, 
"  The  Independence  of  the  Holy  See."  "  The  head  of 
the  Christian  world  can  never  be  disturbed  from  his 
rightful  seat  without  causing  perturbation  throughout  the 
Christian  world."  "  ^N'ever,"  says  his  Eminence,  "  in  the 
history  of  Christian  Europe,  since  the  year  eight  hun- 
dred "  (when  Charlemagne  was  crowned  Emperor  of  the 
West  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  and  secured  the  Holy  Father  in 
his  temporal  power),  "  has  the  Sovereignty  of  Pome  been 
violated  by  force,  but,  throughout  the  whole  of  Christian 


396  CONCLUSION. 

Europe,  there  has  been  spread  a  perturbation,  which  has 
only  been  redressed  through  sanguinary  wars"  (p.  39). 

It  must  be  a  sore  affliction  to  the  children  of  unbelief, 
who  are  exulting  over  the  proximate  annihilation  of 
Catholic  Christianity,  to  learn,  that,  in  free  America,  as 
I  see  by  the  Directory  of  this  year,  the  Church  is  making 
the  most  wonderful  progress.  There  are  now  in  the 
United  States,  13  Archbishops,  57  Bishops,  6835  priests, 
1651  ecclesiastical  students,  6613  churches,  1150  chap- 
els, 1476  stations,  22  ecclesiastical  seminaries,  87  colleges, 
599  academies,  2532  parochial  schools,  481,834  pupils 
attending  the  parochial  schools,  294  asylums,  and  139 
hospitals.  The  total  Catholic  population  of  the  States 
is  set  down  at  6,623,176 :  many  Catholic  writers  say 
that  this  estimate  is  too  low,  and  that  it  is  nearer  ten 
millions.  I  do  not  find  the  number  of  convents  and 
monasteries,  given  either  in  this  Directory,  or  that  of 
1883;  but  referring  to  Bishop  Spalding's  "Essays  and 
Beviews,"  published  in  1877,  I  found  that  the  number  of 
convents  for  women  in  that  year  was  350,  and  for  men 
130. 

Considering  that  in  1790,  there  was  not  one  convent  in 
the  United  States ;  and  that  a  hundred  years  ago,  there  was 
no  Bishop,  only  25  priests  and  about  40,000  Catholics,  this 
vast  increase  certainly  does  not  look  like  decay.  I  will 
say  nothing  about  the  growth  of  the  Church  in  Australia 
and  throughout  the  Colonies.  It  will  be  quite  enough  to 
note  the  growth  of  Catholicity  in  the  United  States, 
where  it  was  once  confidently ,  stated,  by  men  of  much 
learning  and  authority,  that  the  old  religion  could  never 
prosper. 

Who  can  say  what  the  future  of  the  Christian  Beligion, 
outside  the  Catholic  Church,  wiU  be,  fifty  years  hence  ? 


CONCLUSION.  397 

Lacordaire,  who  died  in  1861,  one  of  the  most  gifted 
men  of  his  generation  in  France,  and  who  had  given 
considerable  attention  to  the  nature  of  Protestantism, 
expressed  his  conviction,  that,  before  the  opening  of  the 
next  century,  it  would,  as  a  Eeligion,  cease  to  have  any 
hold  on  the  minds  of  the  cultured  classes. 

In  the  face  of  the  spreading  Infidelity,  its  entirely 
negative  character  is  becoming  every  day  more  apparent. 
Now  that  it  has  other  work  on  its  hands  than  to  abuse 
the  old  Church,  and  is  obliged  to  make  every  effort  to 
rally  its  supporters  against  the  vigorous  assaults  of  the 
"  isms,"  I  have  described  in  the  concluding  chapters  of 
this  book,  it  is  brought  to  feel  and  acknowledge  its  in- 
herent weakness. 

If  the  force  of  popular  opinion  carries  disestablish- 
ment, and  there  ceases  to  be  a  JS^ational  religion  in  Eng- 
land, it  is  not  easy  to  see,  what  can  stop  the  rapid  prog- 
l^ess  of  disintegration.  Certainly  mere  sentimentalism 
and  emotional  piety  will  not  do  it.  This  sort  of  un- 
natural excitement  suffers,  more  than  any  other  senti- 
ment, by  reaction;  and  with  the  spread  of  Godless 
education,  mere  pious  words,  and  phrases,  and  unctuous 
appeals  to  feeling,  will  not  satisfy  the  irreverent  spirit 
of  Free-thought,  which  is  the  natural  outcome  of  educa- 
tion without  God. 

Most  thinking  men,  and  they  are  so  few  in  these  busy 
times  that  one  can  easily  collect  their  views,  agree  that, 
soon,  even  before  fifty  years  are  past,  there  will  be  in  the 
world  that  once  was  Christian,  only  two  camps.  Infidel- 
ity on  the  one  side,  and  Catholic  Christianity  on  the  other. 

Then  shall  come  the  decisive  test,  which  will  try  every 
human  being  able  to  form  a  judgment.  Christ  and  His 
entire  message  of  Peace  to  men  of  good-will  on  the  one 


398  CONCLUSION. 

hand,  and  Anti-Christian  theories  on  the  other  will  set 
themselves  plainly  and  unmistakably  before  each  individ- 
ual, and  he  shall  realize  to  himself  the  meaning  of  these 
words  of  our  Divine  Lord — "  He  that  is  not  with  me  is 
against  me"  (Matt.  xii.  30). 

In  view  of  those  evil  days,  when  Faith  will  be  sorely 
tried  in  all  who  wilFnot  hear  the  Church,  Christians  of 
every  denomination  should  say  from  their  hearts — 
"  Come,  Holy  Ghost,  fill  the  hearts  of  Thy  faithful,  and 
enkindle  in  them  the  fire  of  Thy  love,  send  forth  Thy 
spirit,  and  they  shall  be  created,  and  Thou  shalt  renew 
the  face  of  the  earth."  It  is  only  this  Heavenly  grace 
that  can  dissipate  the  darkness  of  error,  and  bring  all, 
who  really  desire  it,  to  the  knowledge  and  love  of  Truth. 
This  is  "  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished  for  "  be- 
yond aU  other  blessings : — "  For  this  is  good  and  accept- 
able in  the  sight  of  God  our  Saviour,  who  will  have  all 
men  to  be  saved,  and  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth"  (1  Tim.  ii.  3,  4). 


INDEX. 


Accomplished  facts,  48. 

Adier,  Dr.,  bis  sermons,  28. 

Agnosticism,  its  tactics,  350;  ab- 
surdity of  tbe  "unknowable," 
350;  St.  Paul  and  unknown 
God,  351 ;  refuted  by  Frederic 
Harrison,  351. 

Agnus  Dei,  137. 

Alice,  and  ber  cbildish  dreams, 
55. 

Allenstein,Von,  testimony  on  un- 
denominational schools,  197. 

Alvimore,  Baron  d',  extracts  from 
old  traditions,  Chinese,  Hin- 
doo, Persian,  Mexican,  361,  362. 

America,  freedom  favorable  to 
Catholic  Church,  190;  common- 
schools  in,  199-202;  almighty 
dollar,  277,  354;  newspaper  tes- 
timony on  common-schools, 
202;  sacrifices  for  preservation 
of  liberty,  334;  extraordinary 
growth  of  Catholic  Church  in, 
396. 

Antichrist  and  scarlet  woman 
not  applied  by  Infidels  to  Catho- 
lic Church,  172. 

Apocalypse,  and  Christian  wor- 
ship, 155. 

Appenzell,  canton  of  Inner  and 
Ausser  Rhoden,  286. 

Apr^s  nous  le  deluge,  71. 

Assaults  of  Infidelity  self-de- 
structive, Voltaire,  322. 

Assurance  of  salvation,  danger 
of,  217;  no  positive  in  Catholic 
Church,  220. 

Athanasian  Creed  dissolving,  33; 
on  Incarnation,  84,  269. 

Athens,  Rome,  Alexandria, 
schools  of  thought,  178. 


Atonement,  IngersoU's  **  infamy" 
of,  238. 

Augustine,  St.,  the  altar,  128; 
quotation  from  "  City iof  God," 
290;  principle  of  belief  in 
Scripture,  325;    on  Spiritism, 


Bag  of  bones  theory,  181,  302, 
344. 

Baptism,  water  essential  in,  109; 
necessary  for  salvation,  307; 
Church  of,  true  meaning,  307; 
fate  of  unbaptized  children, 
309;  unbaptized  Pagans,  309. 

Battle  of  Dorking,  393. 

Bayle,  on  doubts  of  Infidels,  320. 

Benediction  of  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment, 97. 

Belief  in  Christ  includes  all  His 
doctrine,  303. 

Beaconsfield,  Lord,  on  Atheism, 
350. 

Bible,  its  wide  propagation  use- 
less, 23;  as  mle  of  Faith,  39; 
Christianity,  Infidel  assaults 
against,  44. 

Bingham  on  worship,  155. 

Blessed  Eucharist,  objection  from 
irreverence  of  Catholics,  135; 
connection  with  Incarnation, 
165;  worship  of,  not  Idolatry, 
165. 

Blind  man,  in  relation  to  mys- 
teries, 42. 

Bolilen,  Von,  Vater,  Hartmann, 
Norton,  on  antiquity  of  writ- 
ing, 323. 

Boldetti,  Bosio,  Bottari,  Aringhi, 
D'Agincourt,  on  Catacombs. 
156. 


400 


INDEX. 


Bonjean,  President,  and  Mgr. 
Darboy,  their  death  at  La 
Roquette,  114. 

Bourdaloue  on  salvation  of  Pa- 
gans, 310. 

Bradlaugh,  sentiments  of  his 
class,  18. 

Brutum  fulmen,  strong  arm  of 
law,  18. 

Buddha,  resemblance  to  Christ; 
objection  answered  by  Bentley, 

Caiphas  and  Exponents  of  Pro- 
phecy, 147. 

Calvin,  his  teaching  on  Predesti- 
nation, 254r-256. 

Canada,  its  colonization,  291; 
Champlain,  391 ;  Hochelaga, 
293. 

Callan,  Dr.,  Maynooth,  176. 

Cant  and  Hypocrisy  hated,  53. 

Capital,  and  its  possessors,  33. 

Carpenter,  Dr.,  on  Spiritism,  374. 

Castracani,  Abbe,  count  de,  175. 

Catacombs,  martyrs  of ,  113;  suc- 
cessors of  8t.  Peter  in  the,  138; 
worship  in,  156. 

Catholics,  bad  lives  of  some,  93 ; 
Catholic  countries  always 
cheery,  353;  always  poor,  379. 

Catholic  Church,  said  to  be  enemy 
of  Progress,  44;  Intemperate 
arguments  against,  45;  con- 
tradictory charges  against,  46; 
old-fashioned,  47;  never  per- 
secuted, 49;  her  right  to  teach, 
51;  how  to  be  attacked,  51; 
secret  of  her  vigorous  life,  124; 
sublime  grandeur  of,  127;  a 
society  of  men,  138;  and  mate- 
rial progress,  187;  doctrine  on 
Original  sin,  267;  Catholic 
truth  how  sustained,  321; 
Catholic  doctrine  expounded 
as  a  whole,  advantages  of,  385; 
Catholic  want  of  devotion, 
389;  extraordinary  growth  in 
America,  396;  her  future  in 
the  world,  396;  everlasting 
kingdom,  373;  grew  luxuriant- 


ly in  persecution,  394;  Catho- 
lic countries  poor,  objection, 
279. 

Celsus  and  Porphyry,  caricature 
of  Christianity,  28. 

Charles  II.  and  his  problem,  67. 

Christmas  devotions,  104. 

Children  dear  to  Christ,  55. 

Chinese  traditions,  361. 

Christ  in  garden  of  Gethsemani, 
137. 

Chrysostom,  St.  John,  adoration 
of  angels,  149;  Spiritism,  382. 

Clement,  St.,  Church  of,  in 
Rome,  128. 

Colenzo  and  Polygamy,  226;  and 
Zulu  convert,  331. 

Colonial  youth,  irreverence  in 
churches,  161 ;  their  notions  of 
Religion,  211;  travellers  in 
Europe,  their  impressions,  288; 
explanations  of  Spiritism,  374; 

Communion,  Holy,  makes  us  in- 
dividually sharers  in  atone- 
ment, 125. 

Comparative  study  of  languages 
proves  unity  of  human  race, 
366. 

Concupiscence,  237. 

Convents,  why  people  shut  them- 
selves up  in,  225 ;  folly  of,  247. 

Converts,  false  ideas  in  reference 
to  sanctity  of  Catholics,  140; 
not  much  study  required  of 
them,  166;  conversions  singu- 
lar, 213. 

Cook  and  Maskelyne  in  Egyp- 
tian Hall,  871. 

Cousin,  Pantheist,  338;  his  con- 
version, 343. 

Cowper,  Poet,  on  Materialism, 
349. 

Cromwell,  a  saying  of  his,  354; 
his  war-cry,  285. 

Cyril,  St.,  and  Christ-bearers, 
130. 

Darwin,  his  facts,  67;  his  theory 
and  Evolution  of  Religion, 
358. 

Deceased  friends,  spirits  of,  881 


INDEX. 


401 


Demonstrations  fivangeliques, 
celebrated  work  of  Abbe 
Migne,  68. 

Descartes,  his  Philosophy,  337. 

Devereux,  Bishop,  96. 

Devil  not  believed  to  exist,  379; 
still  exists,  380. 

Dickens,  Charles,  his  sympathy 
for  the  fallen,  53;  David  Cop- 
perfleld,  Heep,  and  Littimer, 
223,  224;  Mrs.  Clenham's  relig- 
ion, 253,  368.   . 

Deists  intolerant,  304. 

Divorce  courts,  207. 

Divine  right,  187. 

Donatists,  false  ideas  of  perfec- 
tion, 143, 

Duty  of  parents,  193,  195. 

Eastern  Religions  and  Catholic 
Christianity,  360;  peoples,  tra- 
ditions of,  361. 

Education  without  God,  19;  its 
main  object,  191;  denomina- 
tional and  undenominational, 
192;  Compulsory,  196;  "  God- 
less," 196;  in  American  "com- 
mon-schools," 199,  202;  in 
Prussia,  196;  in  France,  198; 
effects  in  America,  newspaper 
testimony,  201. 

Egyptian  Hall,  Cook  and  Maske- 
lyne,  371. 

Eliot,  George,  poetry,  342;  Mal- 
lock's  view  of,  342. 

Emotional  Christianity,  215; 
dangerous  illusion,  230;  ex- 
tempore prayer,  244;  Revivals, 
242,  245;  weakness  of,  396. 

End  never  justifies  the  means,  37. 

England  "workshop  of  the 
world,"  287;  poverty  in,  290; 
frauds  of  spiritists  detected 
in,  371. 

Epicurus,  343. 

Eternity  of  torments,  belief  in, 
not  incompatible  with  enjoy- 
ments of  life,  94,  132;  decree 
of  God,  182. 

Evolution,  318;  on  hypothesis  of 
Personal  God,  339;  possible  to 


certain  extent,  meets  certain 
scriptural  difficulties,  358;  Evo- 
lution of  Religion,  359;  both 
begin  at  wrong  end,  358. 

Exclusive  Salvation,  dogmas  of 
Catholic  Church  upon,  306; 
exclusiveness,  302. 

Extreme  Unction,  its  consola- 
tions, 98. 

Fabiola,  loss  of  natural  gifts, 
343;  the  slave  Syra,  341. 

Faith,  wilful  rejection  of,  139; 
misery  of  renunciation,  169;  in 
Lord's  supper,  390;  Catholics 
live  in  atmosphere  of,  172. 

Family,  without  God,  21. 

Fawcett,  his  testimony  on  state 
of  working-classes,  71. 

Fichte,  338. 

Fire  of  Hell  explained,  133;  de- 
cree of  God,  182. 

Formulary  of  concord,  235. 

France,  theology  in,  17;  Educa- 
tion in,  198;  degeneracy  in,  18; 
not  poor  because  Catholic, 
293. 

Free-thinkers  not  abusive  of 
Catholic  Church,  172. 

Frescos  in  St.  Clement's,  testi- 
mony of,  128. 

Frothingham,  his  essays,  28. 

Froude,  his  testimony  about  pro- 
tection of  trade  in  Ireland, 
284. 

Gloria  in  excelsis,  127, 

God  of  the  Bible  according  to 
Ingersoll,  52;  our  Father,  339; 
Indignation  terrible.  891; 
"Scourge  of  God,"  392;  har- 
dening hearts,  259. 

Gospel,  parables  of,  in  reference 
to  Church,  142. 

Gordon  riots,  19. 

Grace,  divine,  interior  compared 
with  natural  gifts,  264;  com- 
mon, 265;  power  of  co-operat- 
ing with,  266;  Moehler's  teach- 
ing on,  267;  main  difficulty, 
271;  Pelagian  heresy  on,  271; 


402 


INDEX. 


beauty  of  Catholic  doctrine  on, 
275;  Newman  on  power  of,  147. 

Hallam,  his  views  of  persecu- 
tion, 49. 

Hamlet,  dread  of  something  after 
death,  344. 

Harmony  of  Revealed  truths, 
76. 

Harrison,  Frederic,  Religion  of 
Humanity,  277;  a  few  passages 
from  Nineteenth  Century,  354. 

Haulleville  Baron  de,  Catholic 
and  Protestant  progress,  286. 

Heart,  Sacred,  386;  strengthens 
other  mysteries,  388. 

Hegel,  338. 

Heretics  and  Schismatics,  fate  of, 
310. 

Humanity,  worship  of,  355. 

Human  liberty  and  intolerance, 
306. 

Hock,  Doctor,  146. 

Hurter,  Frederic,  146. 

Hypocrisy  and  cant,  hated,  53. 

Idleness,  not  encouraged  by 
Catholic  Church,  250. 

Idolatry,  no,  in  worship  of  Blessed 
Sacrament,  165. 

Imagination  developed  by  Catho- 
lic teaching,  104. 

Immaculate  Conception,  35;  de- 
finition of,  86. 

Incarnation,  Newman  on,  80; 
errors  about,  81;  Belief  in, 
makes  Blessed  Eucharist  easy, 
129;  connection  with  Blessed 
Eucharist,  165. 

Incomprehensible,  God  necessar- 
ily, 58;  can  God  require  us  to 
believe  incomprehensible 
truths?  60. 

Indian  traditions,  363. 

Indifference,  enemy  of  truth,  38; 
danger  of,  311. 

Individualism  another  name  for 
Rationalism.  29. 

Inductive  Philosophy,  67. 

Infallibility,  a  necessary  claim, 
40;  different  from  impeccabil- 


ity, 147;  guide  necessary,  Mal- 
lock's  view  of,  325. 

Infants  uubaptized,  fate  of,  309. 

Infidelity  of  present  time,  its 
characteristics,  14;  "  poor  imi- 
tations of  polished  ungodli- 
ness," 325. 

Ingersoll,  Colonel,  bis  lectures, 
28;  name  applied  to  God  of 
Bible,  52;  on  Trinity.  57;  large 
audiences  he  commands,  57 
his  vision  of  judgment;  222 
atonement,  his  ideas  of,  238 
hatred  of  God  of  Bible,  255 
objection  to  Pentateuch,  326 
consequences  determine  nature 
of  acts,  261. 

Inquisition,  183. 

Instinct  and  Reason,  346. 

Interior  life  of  Priests  and  Re- 
ligious, 148. 

Intolerance  of  truth,  48;  true 
meaning,  299;  of  error,  181; 
of  civil  law,  305. 

Invincible  ignorance,  312;  not 
save  souls,  but  excuse  wilful 
fault,  313;  is  it  extensive,  314. 

Invocation  of  saints,  argument 
against,  43. 

Ireland,  name  applied  to  Blessed 
Virgin  in,  80;  weird  tradi- 
tions of,  78;  progress  of  religion 
in,  123;  causes  of  poverty,  282; 
Ulster  and  Connaught,  283. 

Irish,  their  deep  seated  religion, 
79;  and  Scotch  compared,  284. 

Jansenists,  their  doctrine  of 
what  is  becoming  in  God,  100; 
pernicious  influence,  105. 

Japan,  Buddhism  and  the  pros- 
perity of,  293. 

Jehovah,  name  of  awe,  83. 

Jerome,  St.,  and  judgment,  135. 

Jesuit  Fathers  of  Zambesi,  115; 
earnestness  of  their  faith,  116; 
Colle2:e  rue  des  Postes,  Paris, 
176;  Stoneyhurst,  176. 

Jew,  a  learned  one  at  Bethlehem, 
92;  Jewish  people,  history  of 
Providence,  333. 


INDEX. 


403 


Julian  the  Apostate,  bis  objec- 
tions, 28.  316. 

Justice  and  Reason,  340. 

Justification,  229;  definition  of, 
231;  Moebler's  symbolism  on, 
232. 

Kant,  338. 

Kaye,  political  economist,  70. 

Kyrie  eleison,  127. 

Lacordaire,  his  view  of  degene- 
racy in  France,  31;  on  salva- 
tion of  heretics,  313;  "  Wander- 
ing Jew,"  333 ;  decline  of 
Protestantism,  397. 

Land  of  the  nation  in  the  hands 
of  a  few,  70. 

La  Roquette  and  its  martyrs,  115. 

Lavaleye,  M.  de,  on  Catholic 
and  Protestant  progress,  282; 
Catholic  countries  do  not  colo- 
nize, 291. 

Lectures,  Wiseman's,  Gospel  par 
ables,  142;  on  science  and  reve- 
lation, 179;  Lectures  on  spirit- 
ism, 373. 

Leyden  scliool  of  theology,  302. 

Liberal  Protestants  intolerant, 
304. 

Liberty,  human,  and  intolerance, 
305. 

Lie,  never  lawful,  38. 

Life,  rule  of,  in  fashionable  Lon- 
don, 22. 

Light,  too  much,  179. 

Liturgies,  156. 

Longevity  of  patriarchs,  363. 

Louise  Lateau,  136. 

Louisiana,  its  colonization,  292. 

Louis  XV.,  his  courtiers  on  eve 
of  Revolution,  70. 

Louvre,  picture  in,  of  decadence 
of  Imperial  Rome,  69. 

Luther,  his  strong  language,  25; 
his  centenary,  26;  on  intimate 
conviction,  220. 

Mahomedans,  their  notions  of 

Heaven,  73. 
Mammon,  worship  of,  277. 


Mallock  on  necessity  of  infallible 
guide, 325;  his  views  of  Catholic 
Church,  38,  51 ;  views  of  George 
Eliot,  342. 

Manhood  of  Christ  to  be  adored, 
102;  His  body  in  death  object 
of  adoration,  103. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  on  love  of 
neighbor,  225;  sanctification 
according  to,  235;  notion  of 
true  liberty,  306 ;  temporal 
sovereignty  never  disturbed 
but  with  confusion  of  all  Chris- 
tendom, 395. 

Maria  Monk  and  scandalous 
stories,  117. 

Mary,  "  Mother  of  God,"  85. 

Maskelyue  and  Cook  in  Egyp- 
tian Hall,  371,  375. 

Master  of  ceremonies,  167. 

Materialism  and  positivism,  343; 
contradiction  not  possible  in 
matter,  348. 

McCarthy,  Abbe,  on  mysteries, 
60,  66. 

Melancthon,  curious  testimony 
of,  236. 

Mexican  traditions,  363. 

Microscope,  its  revelations,  62. 

Midas,  Sir  Gorgius,  290. 

Miracle  of  loaves  and  fishes,  91; 
Christ  walking  on  waters, 
entering  closed  room,  92. 

Moehler,  symbolism,  232;  testi- 
mony about  good  pagans,  267; 
doctrine  on  Grace,  267;  Free- 
will, 268. 

Morality  of  Catholic  and  Pro- 
testant countries  compared, 292; 
same  for  all  classes,  296. 

Mormonism,  334. 

Moses,  writing  known  to,  322; 
remarkable  history,  327;  grand 
conception  of,  328;  his  division 
of  history,  330. 

Miiller,  Von,  testimony  to  Catho- 
lic Church,  207;  Rev.  Michael, 
204,  207. 

Mundella,  France  worthy  of  imi- 
tation in  godless  education, 
32. 


404 


INDEX. 


Mungo,  St.,  cathedral  of,  in  Glas- 
gow, 153. 

Mysteries,  belief  in,  honors  God, 
41 ;  has  Religion  a  right  to  teach 
them,  58;  their  use,  73;  how 
consoling,  72;  not  contradic- 
tory, 74;  Protestants  afraid  to 
analyze,  99. 

Native  driver  on  immortality, 
344. 

Nature,  a  hard  mistress,  260; 
knowledge  of  laws  in  spirit- 
ism, 378. 

Nestorius,  his  denial  of  divinity 
of  Christ,  101. 

Newman,  Cardinal,  on  power  of 
God's  grace  and  supernatural 
life,  147;  Apologia,  312. 

Nicodemus  and  Baptism,  109. 

No-popery  cry  not  used  by  In- 
fidels, 174. 

Novitiate  of  Religious  orders,  116. 

Nuns,  how  they  build  their 
schools,  121. 

Oakley,  Rev.  Frederic,  contra- 
dictory charges  «.  Catholic 
Church,  45;  on  Sacraments, 
111 ;  on  Vocation  to  Religious 
life,  119. 

Object  of  adoration  something 
sensible,  96. 

Offertory  of  the  Mass,  97. 

Omousios  and  Omoiousios,  269. 

"  Osmosis,"  its  meaning,  345, 

Original  sin,  effects  of,  239;  Cal- 
vin on,  238;  Catholic  doctrine 
on,  239. 

Outward  means  of  Grace  taught 
by  Christ,  107. 

Paganism,  wonders  of,  why  be- 
lieved, 372. 

Pantheism,  337;  its  meaning, 
388;  what  it  amounts  to,  338; 
what  splendid  Catholics  they 
might  be,  340;  their  eloquence, 
341. 

Pauperism,  194;  a  curse,  290; 
efforts  of  Catholic  Church  to 


relieve   it,   291;   objection  on 

this,  290. 
Papists  believe  anything,  163. 
Parables  of  Gospel  in  reference 

to  Church,  142. 
Pelagians,    zeal    of    Reformers 

against,   53,   232;  their  errors 

on  grace,  271,  274. 
Pentateuch,    objections  against. 

Exodus  and,  326. 
Period  short  for  man's  existence 

on  earth,  objection,  112. 
Perraud,   Father's,    sermon    on 

Mgr.  Darboy,  113. 
Perrone,  on  Spiritism,  372. 
Persecution,     Catholic     Church 

never  persecuted,  49,  183. 
Persian  traditions,  368. 
Pharisees,  their  cry,  27;  piety  of, 

221,  284. 
Philippine  Islands  colonized  by 

Catholics,  292;  Sir  John  Bow- 
ring's  testimony,  292. 
Physiology,  little  known  to  the 

many,  63. 
Pilgrimages,  use  of,  186. 
Planchette,  377. 
Polemical  disputation  avoided  in 

this  book,  213. 
Popery,  in  the  notions  of  colo- 
nists,   160;    denunciations  of, 

164;  no-popery,  174. 
Popes,  said  in  some  cases  to  be 

wicked,  145. 
Pre-Adamite  man,  318. 
Preacher,  what  expected  of  him, 

21. 
Predestination,  246;  Calvin's  no- 
tions of,  254-256. 
Preface  of  Christmas  Day,  97. 
Pride,  temptation  of,  30. 
Priests  and  Religious  not  swayed 

by  Pharisaical  pride,  119. 
Processions,  97. 
Protestantism,    Schleiermacher's 

view  of  it,  83;  decline  of,  396 

Lacordaire,  397. 
Providence,    Voltaire    on,    261 

check  on  Spiritism,  354. 
Prussia,  one  third  Catholic,  292 

education  in,  196. 


INDEX. 


406 


Public  penances  and  "experi- 
ences," 230. 

"  Quod  nimis  probat,  nihil  pro- 
bat,"  75. 

Rationalistic  conceptions  of 
Catholic  Church,  173;  Ration- 
alism, its  latest  outcome,  30. 

Realism,  Harrison,  354;  its  latest 
view,  28. 

Real  presence,  conuection  with 
Incarnation,  88;  its  difficulties, 
89;  not  appreciated,  93;  once 
the  Faith  of  Christendom,  127, 
389. 

Reason  and  Instinct,  346. 

Reign  of  terror,  recent  in  Paris, 
114. 

Religion,  common  origin  of,  ob- 
jection, 180;  one  as  good  as 
another,  302,  303. 

Resurrection  of  Christ  more 
clearly  proved  by  sustained  at- 
tacks, 365. 

Revelation,  has  God  spoken,  66. 

Reverend  teachers  of  error,  38. 

Revivals,  245. 

Ridicule,  its  influence,  316. 

Rigor  of  Catholic  doctrine  no 
discouragement,  265. 

Ritualism,  153. 

Rock,  Dr.,  155. 

Rock  of  Church,  its  perpetuity, 
23,  326,  394. 

Romans  languid,  insensible  to 
danger,  70;  Roman  triumph 
and  contrast,  392. 

Roscoe,  146. 

Sacrament,  of  penance,  95; 
definition  of,  108;  sacramental 
system,  errors  of  Reformers, 
110. 

Saint  Augustine.  290,  325,  382. 

Saint  Chrysostom,  149,  382. 

Saint  Clement,  128. 

Saint  Cyril,  130. 

Saint  Jerome,  135. 

Saint  Thomas,  382,  388. 


Sacred  Heart,  can  we  worship 
it?  100,  386. 

Salvation  exclusive,  297. 

Sanchouiathon,  323,  362. 

Sanctification  and  iustification, 
228. 

Schleiermacher,  his  view  of  Pro- 
testantism, 33. 

Scientific  research  not  opposed 
by  Catholic  Church,  175. 

Scripture,  summary  of  objections 
to,  and  principles  of  reply,  335. 

"  Scourge  of  God  "  in  ruin  of 
ancient  Rome,  392. 

Secchi,  Father,  175. 

Sentimental  religion,  objection 
to,  not  meant  to  be  offensive, 
388. 

Sidgreaves  and  Perry,  'Fathers, 
175. 

Simon,  M,  Jules,  his  eloquent 
words  on  national  decay,  32, 
294. 

Simplicity  of  Catholic  worship, 
151. 

Smith,  Dr.,  on  Pentateuch,  an- 
tiquity of  writing,  323. 

Society  without  God,  47. 

Soul  of  the  Church,  305;  soul 
not  material,  343. 

Spalding,  Bishop,  on  wealth  and 
poverty,  287;  unbelievers  make 
common  cause  with  Protes- 
tants, 293. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  God  hardening 
hearts,  259;  worship  of  Hu- 
manity, 238. 

Spinoza  and  Pantheism,  337. 

Spiritism,  185,  187,  369;  objec- 
tion— belongs  to  dark  ages, 
369;  temptations  to,  369;  why 
succeeds  in  America,  372; 
wonders  of,  370;  frauds  de- 
tected, 371;  explanations  of 
young  colonists,  375;  lecture 
on,  373;  Egyptian  Hall  and 
Slade,  372;  proof  of  diabolical 
agency,  376;  Planchette,  377; 
knowledge  of  laws  of  nature, 
378;  who  can  know  them  all, 
378;  produces  good,  380;  souls 


406 


INDEX. 


of  deceased,  381 ;  not  modern, 
382;  in  Deuteronomy,  383. 

Success,  in  Catholic  sense,  122. 

Switzerland,  rich  and  poor  Can- 
tons, 286. 

Tabeknaclb  and  meeting-house, 
152. 

Temptation  of  Pride,  340. 

Testament,  old  and  new  united, 
326. 

The  Holy  Ghost  sensibly  indicat- 
ing His  presence,  a  delusion, 
171. 

Thought  not  divisible,  347. 

Traveller  in  Ireland,  247;  colo- 
nial in  Europe,  291. 

Trinity,  mystery  explained  to 
children,  56;  Ingersoll  on,  57; 
true  doctrine  of,  57. 

Truth  intolerant,  299. 

Vedas  of  Hindoos,  362. 
Vincent  of  Lerins,  on  salvation 

of  heretics,  311. 
Vocation,  Religious,  117;  Father 

Oakley  on,  119. 


Voight,  Professor,  146. 
Voltaire,  his  disciples  and  their 

labors,  14;  on  Providence,  261, 

323. 

Whately,  Archbishop,  on  Na- 
poleon's existence,  324. 

Wickliffe  and  Huss,  false  ideas 
of  perfection,  143. 

Wiseman,  Cardinal,  Exposition 
of  Parables,  142 ;  Lectures 
on  Science  and  Revelation, 
179. 

Worldly-minded  notions  of  Re- 
ligious life,  249. 

Worship,  regulated  by  Divine 
ordinance,  154;  Catholic,  ob- 
jections to,  157;  attractive  in 
Catholic  Church,  158;  unfolds 
sacramental  system,  168;  in 
early  Christian  times,  155; 
Apocalypse  and  Christian  wor- 
ship, 155;  simplicity  of,  150; 
Bingham  on,  155;  mode  in 
Catacombs,  156;  of  Blessed 
Sacrament,  165;  upholds  the 
Sacraments,  168. 


MEDITATIONS 


FOR 


EVERY  Day  in  the  Year, 

COLLECTED  FROM   DIFFERENT  SPIRITUAL  WRITERS 
And  Suited  for  the  Practice  Called 

'^  Quarter  of  atx  Stotir^s  ^olitudje/^ 

Edited  by 

REV.  ROGER  BAXTER,  S.  J., 

OF  GEORGETOWN   COLLEGE. 


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was  translated  into  English  in  1669  by  Rev.  E.  Mico,  and  revised  and 
modernized  in  1822  by  Rev.  Roger  Baxter,  S.  J.,  of  Georgetown  College. 
It  is  now  republished  and  revised  in  the  251st  year  of  Jesuit  labor  in 
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